Due South
by KatiKat
Summary: Sequel to "On the Run" and "The Claim". Our heroes are headed South - MPREG, 1x2, 13x6
1. Prologue

Due South - prologue 

by KatiKat

In one of the ship´s smallest cabins Duo was lying on a narrow bunk he shared with Heero, his eyes fixed on the bed above, the one that would belong to Trowa for the rest of their journey. He was listening to the creaking sounds the ship made as it danced on the waves, tied to the pier into which it bumped from time to time.

Duo sighed and turned onto his side, watching Shinigami scratch himself behind the ear with his paw. Heero and Trowa had disappeared to who knew where, leaving him all alone in the small room with no windows and only the two beds, one chest, a table and two chairs.  Not that he complained about their accommodation. It was really nice of Treize to insist that the captain cleared one of the smaller cabins for his guests. Duo couldn´t imagine sleeping with all the men in the long cabin that lay next to the ship´s galley. But he knew that something was going on that no one wanted to tell him about. He heard the sailors, the King´s most trusted men, moving around the ship and shouting orders, preparing to set sail. Even though the captain seemed to be in a bit of hurry, they were still waiting in port. And he suspected that Heero and Trowa knew what was going on.

The braided lifebearer sighed and turned onto his back again, arms behind his head. He watched as the shadows danced around the room. The one oil lamp hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room didn´t do much to light the room. Maybe it was the half-darkness that ruled in the room that was causing his depressive boredom. But maybe it was the order Heero gave him to "Stay and sleep." He was tired of resting. He was no invalid. He did feel a bit lightheaded from time to time but as Trowa said it was normal for a person who had experienced such massive blood loss as he had in the last couple of days. He wasn´t sick anymore and he hated that Heero forced him to feel like he was. And the fact that his friends were keeping secrets from him didn´t help either.

And then there was Howard... Now that they were in the relative safety of the royal ship, he allowed himself to think properly about the old man he had considered an uncle. The mercenary who had burned down Duo´s village and killed all of the lifebearer´s people. And what for? Just because he, Duo, had been claimed by another. Had he always been a madman and the braided young man had just never noticed? Had he always been a killer, murderer and slaughterer? Duo shuddered.

He felt his heart clench as he remembered Solo, his dear brother. What was he doing now? Was he safe? Wufei said that Solo hadn´t been in the village when Howard and his men came, but he could be mistaken. The lifebearer knew that he would probably never see his older sibling ever again, but he hoped with his whole heart that Solo was okay and that he would be happy with Sal...

And Wufei? Duo sighed again. He would never regret the time he spent with the black-haired youth. No matter what had happened between them in the end... He knew that Wufei was a good man, even though it had hurt deeply to be betrayed in the one moment he needed him so much. But on the other hand, if that hadn´t happened, he would have never gotten together with Heero and maybe he would have fallen in Howard´s hands, too.

The last thought brought him back to his present situation and his depression turned into anger. He loved Heero dearly, but the Enforcer shouldn´t think that because his sickness forced him to play the submissive role, it was a natural part of his character. Duo had been taking care of himself and his family since his Bearer died and he had no intention giving up his independence. He was ready to compromise, not to submit.

Suddenly, shouts could be heard from the deck, the sound of many horses' hooves on the wooden pier echoed through the ship. Duo sat up on the bed, torn from his contemplation. For one terrifying moment he thought that Howard had caught up with them and his heart started to beat faster in his chest. But the shouts were ones of greeting. He allowed himself to relax a bit but stayed alert anyway. Something was obviously going on. Even Shinigami sat up straight, his ears twitching as he listened to what was happening.

Curious, Duo got up from the bed and headed for the door, Shinigami slowly trailing after him. But right at the moment he reached for the door knob, the door opened.

"Heero!" the lifebearer shouted, startled. "What´s going on?"

Even though the Enforcer´s face was grim, a sparkle of satisfaction shot through his eyes. "Howard´s dead," he announced quietly. "Treize´s men killed him."

Duo paled. He felt light headed. His knees buckled and he reached out blindly for support. Heero caught him in his arms and together they slowly sank to the floor. "He is dead? Really?" the braided young man asked, clutching the Enforcer´s warm shirt in his fists. He needed the reassurance.

Heero nodded and brought Duo to his chest, hugging him tightly. "They waited for him and his men in the inn. There was a fight and the mercenaries went down together with their leader. The soldiers watched them burn with the inn."

The lifebearer was shaking with relief. Was it over? Was the horrible nightmare really over?

"Yes," Heero whispered in an answer to the question the braided young man wasn´t even aware of saying aloud. He kissed the crown of Duo´s head and caressed his back. "It´s over. He can´t hurt you anymore. Not now, not ever again."

Clenching his eyes tightly shut and pressing himself closer into his mate´s embrace, Duo started to sob with relief. It was over... It was finally over...

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

**Due South - part 1  
by KatiKat  
  
"I´ve been looking for you."  
  
Trowa looked at the approaching Enforcer, then turned back to the dark port of Dartvalley. "I haven´t been hiding." He laid his glove-covered hands on the rail.  
  
Heero walked up to him, propped his side against the rail and crossed his arms on his chest. He was facing his best friend, watching him closely. "You seemed so withdrawn after Rufus brought us the news about Howard´s death. What´s wrong?"  
  
Trowa shook his head, his long bangs covering one side of his face. "Nothing."  
  
But the Enforcer didn´t let himself be fooled. "You and Duo are the world´s worst liars."  
  
The healer smiled gently. "And where is your mate?"  
  
"He is sleeping."  
  
Trowa nodded. "Sleep is good for him." There was a moment of silence when only the slapping of waves and the steps of sailors could be heard. "You two should talk, though. The captain decided to wait until morning to sail out. You should decide what you want to do now."  
  
Heero looked at him with confusion marring his features. "What do you mean?"  
  
The taller man looked at his friend and shrugged. "Howard is dead. You don´t have to run anymore. I mean, you can do anything you want. Even return to the village and rebuild everything. You don´t have to go with us anymore."  
  
Another moment of silence passed between the two men. "Us? Does that mean that you´re going?"  
  
Trowa nodded once. "Yeah. I´ve been living in one place for way too long already. I´m not the type for settling down forever, you know it. I´ve enjoyed the last two years I´ve spent in your company, but now it´s time for me to move on."  
  
A frown settled on Heero´s face. "So... you would leave us... me.. behind."  
  
The healer smiled again and looked his friend directly in the eyes. Only a couple of torches and the moonlight were trying to light up the dark night. "It has nothing to do with the two of us, Heero. I´ve been traveling for the past two years too and we stayed friends anyway. It won´t change anything between us nor between me and Duo. You two will always have a special place in my heart, no matter where I go or if we meet in two days or two years from now." He looked back at the pier where two soldiers were walking back and forth, keeping guard. "I would like you two to come with us but I don´t want to push you. Everybody has to live their own lives, Heero."  
  
The Enforcer watched his friend for a moment longer, then nodded to himself and straightened. "I understand. And I want you to know that no matter what we will decide, you´ll always have a place with us."  
  
Heero touched Trowa´s shoulder and the healer patted his hand with a smile. The message was clear - best friends forever.  
  
-----  
  
Duo woke up snuggled closely in the warm embrace of his mate. His head was lying on the short-haired man´s strong chest and the thumping sound of his beloved's heart was filling his right ear. The lifebearer smiled, sighed happily and blinked sleepily.  
  
"Awake?" Heero asked, a smile in his voice.  
  
Duo raised his head, his hair tousled. "Yeah, kind of. What time is it?" His voice was husky with sleep.  
  
"It´ll be dawn soon."  
  
Duo nodded contently and laid his head back down on his favorite pillow. His eyes slid shut, but before he could fall asleep, Heero´s voice broke through the haze of his mind.  
  
"We need to talk, Duo."  
  
The long-haired man opened one eye. He didn´t like the way that sounded. "About what?" he mumbled.  
  
Heero caressed his mate´s light brown hair, then let his hand slide lower to rub Duo´s back. "About what we will do next. Howard is dead. We don´t need to run. We can stay here in Dartvalley or go back to our village, maybe rebuild our house. I know how you hated the prospect of leaving your brother alone here."  
  
Long minutes ticked by quietly. Duo - now fully awake - was lying in his love´s arms unmoving, looking straight ahead into the half-darkness of the cabin. They could stay here... they didn´t need to leave... Howard was dead...  
  
"What about Trowa? Did you talk to him?" Duo asked, tracing small circles on Heero´s chest with his finger. He could feel more than see the Enforcer nod.  
  
"Yes. He is going with Treize and Mil. And before you ask - yes, I would miss him but we can´t build our new life on the wants or needs of someone else. He needs to move on, but we don´t have to. Say the word and we will stay." There was a note of certainty in Heero´s voice. The decision was Duo´s.  
  
Stay or go? To see his brother again... never leave the last member of his family... to return to the village that Howard´s men...  
  
"I don´t want to go back," Duo whispered, clutching Heero´s shirt in his fist. "Although I would like to get my old life back, it´s impossible. It´s naive to think that we could go back and try to rebuild what was lost. You would be an Enforcer without a village to protect and I... I would see Howard´s shadow everywhere," he admitted with a shudder. "This nightmare would never end for us if we didn´t move on - not only mentally but physically too." Duo raised his head from Heero´s chest and looked his mate in the eyes. "I need to put distance between the present and the past, between me and what is left of our home."  
  
Heero lifted his hand and caressed Duo´s cheek. "It´s up to you, love. I´m not forcing you to do anything. I have no ties to cut, you´re the one with family to leave behind."  
  
The lifebearer frowned and leaned his cheek into the caressing hand. "I want to go. This is the farthest I have ever been from the village. The world is so large and I want to see some of it. But I want to... I would like to send a message to Solo. Now that it´s safe, I would like to tell him where we are headed, that we are safe and that he doesn´t need to worry about us."  
  
Heero nodded and brushed Duo´s cheekbones with the thumb of his right hand. "I will see what I can do."  
  
"So... We are going south, huh?" Duo said quietly, the frown on his face replaced with a smile.  
  
"Yeah, due south and a new beginning together," Heero promised with a nod, then leaned closer and proceeded to kiss his mate thoroughly.  
  
-----  
  
With the first rays of light the ship Peacemillion II set out for the sea. Clouds of everpresent steam, rising in the cold air from the warm waters of the bay sustained by the volcanic sources hidden under the surface of the calm sea, surrounded the ship and soon even the last mast slid from sight and only the gentle slapping of waves against the hull and the distant calls of sailors indicated that there was a ship leaving the bay.  
  
No one came to wave goodbye to the departing king´s men since the fishermen and their mates didn´t consider ships coming and going anything special. And that´s why nobody - from the ship or the village - noticed that the young boy one of the passengers sent back with a letter never arrived at his destination.  
  
The dark cloaked man dropped the dead body to the ground and wiped his knife off on the messenger´s clothes. Then he pulled a small leather bound parcel from beneath the boy´s woolen shirt, cut the string and unfolded the letter.  
  
The man scanned the piece of paper with hungry, mad eyes, then a wolfish smile broke on his scarred, burned face. He crumpled the letter and dropped it in the snow next to the dead body. Then he pulled his cloak tighter and headed for the horse that stood patiently among the trees a short distance from the village.  
  
"To the south then..."  
  
TBC**


	3. Chapter 2

**Due South - part 2  
by KatiKat  
  
In the three days they had been at sea, Milliardo hardly saw his mate at all. Treize was spending all his time in the company of the ship´s captain, pouring over maps and correspondence, discussing the situation in the South where the rebels had risen against the Emperor again. And thus, when he opened his eyes in the morning of the fourth day and found the tall aristocrat leaning over the cradle, Mil was really surprised.  
  
"We should give him a name," the blond lifebearer said with an amused smile, turning onto his side and propping himself on one elbow.  
  
Treize looked at him from where he was bent over their son and laughed. "Yes, we can´t call him ´the baby´ forever."  
  
Mil laughed too, his eyes twinkling merrily. "People will start wondering. At least Duo did."  
  
A few seconds later, the smile disappeared from the brown haired man´s lips. Touching his sleeping son´s head one last time, he straightened. "You and Duo got awfully close during the ride." His voice was steady and casual.  
  
Tensing, Mil narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, suspicious.  
  
Treize shrugged and rearranged his long cloak. "I just wonder how much you told him about yourself."  
  
"I didn´t tell him anything!" the blond man snapped in anger. He understood Treize´s caution. Mil´s origins could cause all of them to end up in the headsman´s hands and no ranks or titles would save them. Humans just didn´t mix with Others. On the other hand, his mate´s lack of trust in Mil´s judgement hurt him deeply.  
  
"Duo... But what about other people?" The look Treize directed towards the blond man was dark.  
  
"I told Trowa... and Heero heard, too." Seeing the clouds of anger gather in the other man´s eyes, Mil protested quickly. "I needed to know what impact my origins could have on my child!"  
  
Treize stepped closer to the bed and clenched his teeth to keep himself from shouting. The last thing he needed was to wake his child or let anybody hear them arguing. "How could you do that? Do you realize that with your actions you are not putting only your own life at risk or mine anymore, but the life of our son, too?!" His quiet voice was full of fury.  
  
Now furious as well, Milliardo sat up on the bed, wincing as he pulled his still sore muscles. "I do realize that! But we are talking about our son´s well being here, not only his safety. We have no idea how my heritage could affect him in the future. It was important enough to me to take the risk."  
  
"And you couldn´t tell me about it?" Treize snapped, leaning closer.  
  
"And you couldn´t tell me about the trap you set up for that mercenary?" Mil retorted angrily.  
  
This seemed to really surprise Treize, for he straightened and blinked. "That´s not the same," he replied, some of the anger retreating from his voice.  
  
Mil´s eyes blazed in fury and he had to restrain himself from raising his voice. "Isn´t it? Since you realized that I was a lifebearer, your attitude towards me changed drastically. You are treating me as if I could break. You are not discussing your decisions with me anymore, you are keeping things from me-"  
  
"Because I fear for you!" Treize snapped, interrupting the blond man.  
  
"Do you? Or do you simply consider all lifebearers weak?" Mil sighed, his anger disappeared and left him feeling tired. He couldn´t remember how many times they already had this argument since Treize found out that Mil was pregnant. The lifebearer looked at his mate, reached out and caught the brown-haired man´s hands in his. "I´m the same as I was two years back when I fought on your side against the rebels in the South." He was desperate for his mate to understand that Treize´s attitude was hurting him.  
  
Treize tightened his grip on Mil´s hands. "I know," he answered quietly.  
  
"Then why? Why are you treating me differently?"  
  
"Because you almost died on me!" the aristocrat snapped, his eyes ablaze. "Since I found out about your pregnancy... you´ve cheated death so many times since then..." His voice trailed off.  
  
Mil tugged at his mate´s hands, forcing him to sit on the bed next to him. "But I´m not dead, love," he whispered, touching Treize´s forehead with his own. "And I´m no invalid. Please, don´t treat me as such."  
  
The brown haired aristocrat sighed and closed his eyes. He retracted his hands from Mil´s and ran them up and down his mate´s arms. For a couple of long moments they stayed like that, touching each other in silent contentment. It felt so good to be together.  
  
"Zechs."  
  
Hearing his mate utter the name quietly, Mil pulled back and looked at him. "Huh?"  
  
Treize raised his hand and touched the blond man´s cheek. "I would like our son to carry your Sire´s name. Zechs." He smiled.  
  
Milliardo answered with a smile of his own. "I think that´s a great idea."  
  
------  
  
For the first time in who knew how long Duo was bone deep bored. Now that he didn´t need to worry about Howard any longer, he wasn´t sure what he should actually be doing or thinking. And the fact that they were on a ship didn´t help much. On the deck it was way too cold to spend any prolonged amount of time there, and their cabin was just too small and dark. Duo was starting to get claustrophobic.  
  
With no enthusiasm whatsoever, he pushed his meal around on the tin plate. He was sure that being allowed to eat in their cabin instead of the long and overcrowded galley was Mil´s doing. On the first day, the blond aristocrat noticed Duo´s discomfort about the prospect of eating together with all the ship´s men. The braided young man hadn´t been in the company of more than four persons at once for weeks now and the crowd seemed to be rather overwhelming for him. Duo remembered the wink Milliardo sent him. And the next meal they were allowed to take in the privacy of their cabin. The braided lifebearer was more than grateful for this small leniency.  
  
But now he was sitting in their cabin all alone, staring at the contents of the quickly cooling dish. His appetite left him quite a while ago, when he realized that Heero and Trowa wouldn´t be eating with him. Trowa got rather involved with the ship´s healer - Duo tried to follow their conversation once but all the names of plants and medications escaped him and he felt completely out of place with them. And Heero was practicing with Rufus, the captain of Treize´s personal guard. Duo was sure that meal or not, there was a crowd gathered on the deck around the two fighters, watching the sparring match. But after three days, even watching Heero´s feline like movements started to bore Duo to tears. Everyone was doing something they liked or were good at. Except for him.  
  
That was when the child in the neighboring cabin started to cry. Duo frowned. The baby seemed rather fussy the last three days. And so when the cries went on and on and didn´t seem to be lessening, just the opposite, the braided lifebearer stood up. He didn´t know anything about fighting or healing plants, but he knew a lot about babies.  
  
Shinigami following him like a shadow, Duo stepped through the door and walked the short distance to the cabin the captain vacated for the special guests on board. He knocked once and without waiting for an answer, he opened the door and walked in.  
  
Milliardo turned to him from where he leaned over the cradle. His face was pale, dark circles under his eyes. Seeing the other lifebearer, the blond man sighed in relief.  
  
"Need some help?" Duo asked, a cheeky grin on his face.  
  
Mil nodded hastily. "Yes, please. I don´t know what´s wrong with him." He seemed rather desperate.  
  
The braided man waited for the dog to enter too, then he closed the door and stepped closer to the cradle. The little boy´s face was red and streaked with tears.  
  
"He isn´t sick, is he?" Milliardo asked fearfuly.  
  
Duo laughed. "Don´t worry. Even though they seem fragile, children are rather resilient. As long as you handle him carefully, he will be okay."  
  
"So... what´s wrong then?"  
  
"Hm... maybe he is hungry?" the braided man pondered aloud.  
  
Milliardo shook his head. "No, I just fed him." He lifted the empty bottle.  
  
Duo´s smile grew bigger. "Aha, then I know what´s wrong." He bent over the child and lifted him from the white bedsheets embroidered with blue. "There," he said quietly and let the baby´s head rest on his shoulder, holding him in place carefully. Then he gently started to pat and massage the small back. The child´s cries stopped almost immediately.  
  
The blond man looked at the other lifebearer in confusion. "What-"  
  
But before he could finish, a loud burp echoed through the ostentatious cabin. Milliardo blinked in surprise and Duo laughed, amused.  
  
"Is he alright?" Mil asked, touching his son´s head.  
  
Duo smiled. "Don´t worry. That´s normal. You have to help him burp after every meal so that the gas doesn´t gather in his tummy." Seeing Mil´s surprised look, a realization dawned on Duo. "Ah, you didn´t know. That´s why the baby cried almost all the time the last couple of days."  
  
Milliardo blushed and looked away. "Sorry."  
  
The braided man waved his hand. "Don´t sweat it. It´s just... I´m a little bit surprised that you didn´t know such a thing. I thought that all lifebearers were taught these things since their childhood."  
  
For a while Mil didn´t say anything, and it almost looked like he wouldn´t answer Duo´s insinuation. But in the end, he raised his eyes to give the braided lifebearer a brief look, then he turned to his son. He found him already sleeping happily. "It´s... rather complicated," he answered. "But would you... could you teach me more... things I should know? I don't want to endanger my son in any way."  
  
Duo blinked in surprise. He, a nobody from a nameless village somewhere in the woods, would teach a nobleman? Mil´s request left him speechless. But seeing the earnest look in the other man´s eyes, Duo nodded slowly. Although Milliardo´s tired face looked rather expressionless as if counting on Duo to refuse, his eyes betrayed him - they were almost desperate in his need for help with things he knew nothing about.  
  
"Of course I will help." He almost smiled, hearing the blond sigh in relief. Maybe Duo found something he was good at for himself, too.  
  
------  
  
"That was a really good fight."  
  
Heero turned around from where he was leaning against the rail, trying to catch his breath. The sword was not his weapon of choice. He preferred knives. But knowing about this weak point, he decided to dedicate the rest of the journey to exercise. And in Rufus he almost found his master. Only their exhaustion, and Treize calling their sparring match a tie, probably saved them from some serious injury.  
  
The Enforcer nodded at Treize´s compliment, then raised the sword to clean it, and frowned when he found his arm shaking.  
  
"You wouldn´t be looking for a job, would you?" the nobleman said and leaned against the rail next to Heero. "I´m always looking for good fighters for my personal guard."  
  
The younger man looked at Treize, then lowered his eyes back to his sword. "No. This is a job for a single man. I have Duo now to care for," he answered after a short while.  
  
Treize nodded, watching him clean his weapon. For a moment they were silent, shouts of sailors echoing around them, white puffs of steam rising from their mouths in the cold winter air.  
  
Suddenly, the aristocrat broke the silence that settled over them. "I hope you´ll keep Milliardo´s secret." His voice was calm, but there was a threatening note in it.  
  
For a moment, Heero´s hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. He didn´t like being threatened. On the other hand, he understood Treize´s need to protect his mate. Him asking Heero to keep silent could be considered a risk to the nobleman. He and Trowa were the only ones beside Treize himself who knew Milliardo´s secret. And now, at sea, surrounded by Treize´s men... they could have just as good as become fish food. No one would be mourning for three lowlifes from some backwater village in the mountains.  
  
Calmly, in a deliberately slow motion, Heero sheathed his weapon, then turned to the aristocrat, standing next to him. "I swear on my honor that I´ll never tell anybody a word about what he entrusted to us." He paused for a moment, then added in a low voice. "But I warn you, nobleman. Never threaten me or mine again. It could cause you many problems."  
  
Treize looked the younger man in the eyes, finding a strength of will matching his. He didn´t need to do or say anything. They understood each other.  
  
Suddenly a shout echoed from the rigging above their heads. They raised their eyes to the sailor. The man was pointing to the south-east. Both Heero and Treize turned to the shore the ship still held in sight during the three-day journey.  
  
"Peacemillion," Treize said, pointing towards the town that was still only a small point in the distance that shone in the weak noon sun.  
  
TBC**


	4. Chapter 3

**Due South - part 3  
by KatiKat  
  
"Wow," Duo sighed out in awe. "This is Peacemillion?" he asked and leaned over the rail to closely watch the progress of their ship sailing into the port. His cheeks were red from the cold, eyes alight with excitement. The big town shone in the last rays of the setting sun. Never in his life did he see so many people in one place.  
  
"Yes, this is Peacemillion," Trowa answered as he and Heero stepped closer to the braided lifebearer. The Enforcer laid one of his gloved hands on Duo´s shoulder to make sure his mate didn´t overbalance and fall into the ice cold sea.  
  
"Wow." Duo´s eyes jumped from one thing to another, trying to take in everything at once. But suddenly he frowned, straightened and turned to his friends. "But why does the town have the same name as our ship?" The fact seemed to confuse him.  
  
"That´s because the founders of this town came with the ship of the name Peacemillion."  
  
Everybody turned to Treize who was approaching them over the wet, slippery deck. The aristocrat was clad in expensive clothes, his cloak fringed with black fur.  
  
"Really?" Duo mulled over that fact. "I always thought that new places bear the name of the ship´s captain or something like that, not the ship itself."  
  
Treize smiled and leaned against the rail by their side. "Yes, usually it is so that new towns or isles are named after the person with the highest rank present. But the towns and isles along this shore line are an exception."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Treize´s smile widened at the braided lifebearer´s curiosity. "Well, they were founded over two hundred years ago. Before that time nobody had lived this far north. But back then the City - the seat of the Emperor - was attacked by the rebels from the south. The Emperor´s army was forced to retreat by ship since the City is surrounded by mountains. During their journey north, the people who didn´t feel like going too far north, settled along the shore and on the isles. Thus many new towns were founded. It took the Emperor´s army over three decades to win their territory back."  
  
Duo seemed fascinated by the story Treize described. "But what about the name?" the younger man reminded him of his inquiry.  
  
This time, Treize laughed out loud. "You are rather impatient, aren´t you?" When Duo blushed, the nobleman continued. "Since the person with the highest rank was the Emperor himself, who had retreated with his army and his people, it would mean that every place would have to carry his name. Could you imagine thirty towns along the shore carrying the name Noventa?"  
  
Duo smiled and shook his head. "Heh, that would be confusing."  
  
Treize nodded. "Exactly. And that´s why every place was called by the name of the ship that arrived there first. Or by its captain."  
  
"Does that mean that our ship is the same as the one after which this town is called?" Duo asked.  
  
"No. Our ship carries the name Peacemillion II. It´s a replica of the old ship. The first Peacemillion was the flag ship of King Noventa, just like this one is," the nobleman explained patiently to his publicum.  
  
Duo scratched his head. "Wow, then you must be really important if he sent his flag ship for you."  
  
That seemed to rather amuse Treize. "Well, you could say that. I´m his First General. Or his Prime as they call me, too." He leaned closer to the braided young man and whispered. "But I don´t like that title much."  
  
Duo grinned at him, then pondered something again. "Hm, and what´s actually the name of the present Emperor?" When he saw Treize´s surprised look, he blushed. "It took the information a rather long time to reach our village."  
  
The aristocrat nodded, understanding. "The Emperor´s name is Noventa."  
  
Duo raised one eyebrow. "What? Is he the same as two hundred years ago or are they just not inventive enough with their children´s names?"  
  
Trowa snickered and tried to hide his smile behind his gloved hand and even Heero´s mouth twitched at the innocent comment. Treize swallowed the laugh that tried to force its way through his throat, but his eyes danced merrily.  
  
"Our Emperor´s name is Noventa XXXIV. This town was founded by his grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-father. Noventa XXVII."  
  
Duo´s eyebrow climbed higher. "Right. Twenty-seventh."  
  
Treize smiled. "It really helps you when you study history. The name is the same, you just have to remember the number."  
  
The long-haired young man shook his head and waved his hand. "If you say so." He turned back to the town that surrounded the quite large natural bay, protected from the cold wind and high waves of the open sea through rocky peninsulas between which, there was a gap large enough for only one ship to pass through. Suddenly though, Duo turned back to the aristocrat. "Speaking of names... Did you finally decide on a name for the baby?"  
  
"Actually, we did. Our son will carry the name Zechs and six or seven other names after the godfathers and who knows whom else." His voice sounded a bit disgusted by the whole thing, but tradition was tradition.  
  
Duo opened his eyes wide. "Six or seven? For the gods´ sake, why?"  
  
Treize shrugged. "The heck if I know, but every child born in a noble family has more than one name."  
  
"Even you?"  
  
The aristocrat nodded. "Even me."  
  
"Wow," Duo seemed rather shocked. "Then I think I´m happy not to be born as a nobleman." Returning back to the previous topic of their conversation, he continued. "But why Zechs? It´s a lovely name, but I thought you would name him after yourself. You are his father, after all."  
  
"Zechs is the name of Mil´s Sire," he explained. Then he furrowed his eyebrows. "But Duo, you shouldn´t call a Sire ´father´. Especially not further down in the South."  
  
Duo looked confused. "Why not? It´s the same, after all."  
  
"Yes, it is. But..." Treize looked at Trowa and Heero. "This title is used by Others. The people in the South are rather sensitive about things that have something in common with them." He fell silent, but there was more written in his eyes. Trowa and Heero understood the message he was trying to convey, and with a nod, they assured him again that they would keep the secret of the small noble family.  
  
"Ah..." Duo answered then turned back to the town. He heard about the war the people of OZ fought with Others. Even though he didn´t understand what they fought for, after what they lived through in the last couple of weeks, he understood everything about misguided acts of violence. He decided to watch his tongue.  
  
"And there is our welcoming committee already."  
  
Everybody turned to the right where Treize pointed. As the ship sailed closer to the pier where it would sink its anchor, the small group of people waiting at the pier´s end came into view. At the head of the small procession a short, plump man dressed in expensive furs and decorated with jewels was standing, fidgeting nervously as he waited for the important guest to arrive.  
  
Treize sighed. "Dunston." His voice was once again filled with disgust. "I had hoped he lost this year´s elections. But obviously, he didn´t," he muttered darkly, making his opinion of the large man clear. Though when the mayor raised his hand and waved, Treize forced a fake smile on his lips and answered his greeting.  
  
-----  
  
When Treize returned to the anchored ship two hours later, he found Trowa, Heero and Duo in his cabin where Milliardo invited them for supper. They were sitting at the table, eating the last bits of fried chicken, happy to have something else on their plates besides salted meat and fish. Zechs was slumbering happily in his Bearer´s arms.  
  
When the brown-haired aristocrat opened the door, the small group of people turned in his direction.  
  
"What´s wrong?" Mil asked, seeing his mate´s dark look.  
  
Treize sighed and unlaced his heavy coat. "The Emperor is not here anymore. He left with all his ships a week ago." He dropped the coat on their bed. "I thought as much when I didn´t see his private ship in the port. What worries me though, is the fact that Dunston said that the King left rather hastily. He even left his court behind. They set out after him with delay. It took them almost two days to pack all of their things."  
  
Milliardo frowned, caressing his baby´s back. "I thought the King wrote you that he would stay here for about a month. He wanted to see the feast and didn´t want us to travel all the way to the City so close to my term."  
  
Treize nodded. "Yes, his letter said so. But he isn´t here anymore. Something must have happened since he didn´t even wait for the holiday, and he was really looking forward to seeing it this year. At least that´s what he said to me the last time I saw him."  
  
The blond man sighed and rubbed his cheek gently against the soft hair on the top of his son´s head. "So, what now?"  
  
Treize propped his left hand on his hip and rubbed his forehead with the right one. "The King left a letter behind for me. It said I should follow him to the City. I already ordered the captain to gather supplies. We will sail out tomorrow morning."  
  
Silence fell over the cabin. Only the creaking of the ship and the slapping of waves could be heard. Trowa, Heero and Duo looked at each other. They could get off now and try to find a place to live here, in Peacemillion. Or they could go further south...  
  
As if some sort of silent consensus was met among the three of them, Trowa nodded, then turned to Treize and Mil. "Would you mind taking us with you? We can pay for our part of the journey."  
  
As if being pulled from some deep thoughts, Treize frowned at them for a moment, then waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Of course you can come with us. Three people more won´t force us to starve. And keep your money. You´ll need it when we reach the City."  
  
Milliardo looked at his mate, then at the close friends he had won only days ago. "I must warn you, though. It´s a long journey. A couple of weeks at least. And with a good wind at that. And who knows what could happen. The waters further south are not as safe as the ones we have passed through now."  
  
Trowa nodded. "We understand that, but still - thank you for the warning."  
  
Suddenly, Mil´s face lit up. "If you would like to go ashore, this is a perfect occasion. If I remember it right, the feast of Morena is being held tonight."  
  
"The feast of Morena?" Duo asked, curious.  
  
The blond man nodded. "Yes, Morena is a goddess, the patron saint of this town. There should be a feast held tonight. It won´t be probably as pompous as it would be if the King was here, but it´s still beautiful."  
  
Duo bounced in his chair, delighted by the prospect. Then he turned to Heero and caught him by the hand. "Can we go?"  
  
The Enforcer shrugged, but squeezed his mate´s hand tightly. "If you would like to."  
  
The braided lifebearer nodded. "Uh-huh. It would be so cool to have solid earth under my feet once again!"  
  
Milliardo laughed. "Then go and enjoy yourself. But be back before the first light. You wouldn´t want to miss the ship," he teased, rubbing his son´s back.  
  
The three young men got up and being led by the happily chatting Duo, they left the cabin with the promise of being back in time.  
  
When the door closed and the sounds of the retreating steps fell silent, Milliardo turned to his mate, his face suddenly very serious. "How bad is it?" he asked silently.  
  
Treize, who until now was standing by the ship´s rear window and was looking out, deep in thought, turned around and sighed. "I don´t know." He walked to the table, sat down in the chair Trowa vacated only moments ago, then poured himself a glass of wine. "The Emperor wrote that news came from the South. Something about the rebels. He didn´t want to go into details though."  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
The brown-haired man shook his head. "I wish I knew more. But the tone of the letter wasn´t worrisome, but... hopeful." He shook his head again. "It´s hard to explain." He took a sip of the wine, then leaned back in the chair. "He took Chancellor Winner with him on his private ship, though. And he is the expert on the situation in the South deserts after all."  
  
Milliardo nodded. Yes, Chancellor Winner was the King´s trusted friend. Even though he was born in the desert himself, he never sided with the rebels. He had always had faith in the unity of the OZ empire. He would advise the King well, even though he was no soldier, but actually a very rich merchant.  
  
"So... what now?" Mil asked, kissing his son´s head when the boy started to fuss.  
  
Treize drank out the wine in his glass. "We will head south and try to catch up with the Emperor. Then we will see."  
  
TBC**

PS: You don´t need to worry. I have no intentions to turn this story in some sort of political drama. I just needed to get our boys back on the sea. Them stopping at Peacemillion was needed for the time continuum for my further writings (that is if I ever get to write the story of Treize and Mil .)


	5. Chapter 4

**Due South - part 4**  
  
by KatiKat

"Finally, solid ground," Duo sighed out happily as he jumped down on the wooden pier. "I still think that the floor under your feet should not move."  
  
"But I think you got your sea legs rather quickly," Trowa replied with a small smile as he and Heero followed the lifebearer down the gangplank. They were all bundled up in heavy coats, but the frost was still biting their cheeks.  
  
"Sea legs? What am I? A frog?"  
  
"No, Duo," the healer replied and patted the longhaired young man on the shoulder. Duo was jumping up and down to warm himself. "That means that you got used to the sea quickly."  
  
"Thank god. The last thing I need is to get sea sick." Duo shuddered.  
  
Suddenly a dog´s barking could be heard. It quickly turned into a sorrowful whining. They all turned back to the ship. In the torchlight they could make out Shinigami, peering at them sadly over the rail.  
  
"No way, boy," called Duo. "Be a good dog and stay on the ship. We can´t take you with us. You would scare half of the people in town."  
  
That was when Rufus appeared at the dog´s side and petted him. "You don´t need to worry. I will take care of him." He smiled at the three young men, then scratched the black beast behind one ear.  
  
Duo waved at the older man. "Thank you, Rufus!"  
  
In the past couple of days, they had got to know the captain rather well and he had won their admiration. Especially Heero, who respected him for his fighting skills and silent strength. The two men got along pretty easily.  
  
"So," Duo stepped between his friend and his lover and intertwined his arms with theirs, "shall we go?"  
  
-----  
  
Never in his life had Duo seen so many exciting things in one place. The streets were full of small stands, their tables covered with food, drinks, furs, leather goods, weapons, clothes and many other things. Duo was dragging his companions from one stall to another, eager to try everything as soon as he found out that he didn´t need to pay anything for tasting the food, only for buying more of it.  
  
Heero and Trowa soon let him explore on his own, since they were already full from the pickled cauliflower, ´frgále´ - very large and very thin cakes smeared with sweet cottage and damsoncheese and sprinkled with almonds - salted rolls and many other things. They came to the understanding that Duo´s stomach was made of iron since he didn´t seem to mind the impossible combinations at all.  
  
And so, in the end, everybody was headed to the stalls with the goods they were most interested in - Duo to the food stands were he discussed in depth the way of cooking all the delicious dishes with the owners, Trowa to the herbalists and Heero to the weaponmakers. They arranged to meet at the fountain in the center of the large square when the bell in the clock tower would strike ten.  
  
Heero was so engrossed in choosing, weighing and dismissing one set of knives after another, that he didn´t even notice Trowa step up behind him.  
  
"What are you doing?" the healer asked, peeking over his friend´s shoulder.  
  
With strength of will, Heero managed not to jump out of his skin. He looked at his friend, who was leaning over his shoulder to look at the knives in the Enforcer´s hands. Heero glared at him and Trowa hid his smirk.  
  
"I´m trying to find some suitable weapons for Duo," he explained in the end and weighed the knives in his hands again, then laid them back on the table. "He needs to learn how to defend himself. Long weeks at sea await us and this would be a perfect way to occupy our free time."  
  
Trowa nodded in agreement. He feared for Duo´s safety, too. The lifebearer lived sheltered from all the bad outside his village most of his life. But the recent wave of violence that centered around his person shook him to the core. And even though he was better now that Howard was out of their lives forever, knowing that he could protect himself if needed could strengthen his self-confidence.  
  
"But why knives? Why not a sword or a foil?" Trowa pointed at the laid out weapons.  
  
"Knives are easier to hide. And he should have a way to protect himself, not to invite a fight. A sword or a foil dangling at your side can have that effect," Heero explained, reaching for another set of knives.  
  
The smith who owned the stall had been watching Heero for a long while now and seeing the expert way in which he handled the cold weapons, he made a decision. "Young man, it seems that you know exactly what you want, but you are obviously not satisfied with what I can offer." He paused a little, then added. "Maybe I have something you would like after all, but it´s not cheap."  
  
When Heero looked up and raised his eyebrow in expectation, the smith pulled a small leather-bound bundle from beneath the table and handed it to the Enforcer. Heero unwrapped it. Two knives of silver color with long, sharp blades fell into his hand. They didn´t have any elaborated carvings, but they were still masterpieces. Heero weighed them in his hands, flipped them in the air and let them fall back in his palms. Then he nodded with satisfaction. "I will take them."  
  
"You don´t even know the price," Trowa reminded him, rather surprised at his friend´s actions.  
  
Heero wrapped the knives in the leather again, then paid the unholy price the smith asked for the weapons. "It doesn´t matter. They are the best, the finest weapons I´ve ever seen. They are worth every coin."  
  
Trowa decided to let it go. Even though he knew well how to fight, he preferred to heal people, not to stick sharp objects into them.  
  
When the small, but expensive trade was finished, they turned to go find Duo. They just needed to follow their noses to the food stands. But while pushing their way through the crowds that were out on the streets to celebrate the feast of Morena, they passed by a stand with silver jewelry. And one piece laid out on the table especially caught Heero´s attention. He stopped to look more closely at it.  
  
It was a small delicate silver cross with ivy. The tiny leaves were worked out in the smallest details so that they looked almost alive. He took the fine silver chain on which the pendant hung into his hand. It weighed almost nothing.  
  
"It´s a claiming necklace, sir," the old woman sitting on the chair in the stall said. "The cross represents the meeting of two roads in life, the ivy the bond in which they step - beautiful, delicate but with hidden dangers, too."  
  
Heero nodded at her, then looked back at the pendant.  
  
"Are you thinking about that for Duo?" Trowa said softly, watching his friend touch the fine ornament.  
  
The Enforcer nodded again. "Yes, it has been weeks since I claimed him, but he has nothing to show it with. I didn´t make it official." He frowned. "It was okay back there, at the village. We all knew each other. We knew who had been claimed by whom and when. But in this town, among the people we don´t know... what will they think about Duo when he can´t prove that he was claimed? The people in the City may not be as traditional about a lifebearer and a Sire living together without the bond as the villagers, but I don´t think they would just overlook it so easily."  
  
Trowa nodded. Heero was right. Their lives would change in the City. It was time to start to make some adjustments. "Then buy it for him. The knives may protect him from physical danger, but not from vile tongues."  
  
The Enforcer nodded and after paying for it, he slipped the necklace and pendant into the pouch on his belt.  
  
That was when the bell started to strike ten. They hurried to the fountain where they were to meet with Duo, forcing their way through the crowd as everyone headed the same way, wanting to watch the fireworks that would start any minute now.  
  
Reaching the square, they started to look for the lifebearer, the hundreds of people not making it easy to find their lost friend and mate. Finally, they spotted him sitting at the edge of the fountain, swinging his legs idly.  
  
When the braided young man spotted them, he smiled brightly, and jumping from the fountain he threw himself into Heero´s arms. "Darling," he screamed with joy, cuddling closer.  
  
Trowa choked with laughter, seeing Heero´s shocked look. The Enforcer closed his arms around his mate so that Duo wouldn´t fall, since he started to sway dangerously.  
  
Heero lifted Duo´s chin, taking in the flushed face and overly bright eyes. "Duo, are you drunk?" he asked, astonished.  
  
The lifebearer shook his head happily. "Not drunk. The nice man had flambi... flambu... burned cherries in his stand. They were exqa... exqin... so tasty." He sighed happily.  
  
Flambed cherries. That meant alcohol. "Duo, how much did you eat?"  
  
The braided young man furrowed his eyebrows, pondering the question. "Not much. I had a small plate but he kept putting more and more on it and I couldn´t just say no. That would´ve been rude." He nodded seriously.  
  
Heero sighed and rolled his eyes. His mate was drunk. Trowa covered his smile with his hand, but the Enforcer noticed it and glared at him with all his might. "It´s not funny."  
  
Trowa laughed out loud. "Oh yes, it is."  
  
Suddenly, the sky was lit up with sparkles of red and green. The fireworks had started. Everybody looked up and sighed with awe. Duo made himself more comfortable in his mate´s arms, admiring the sight too.  
  
Out of the blue though, Duo turned to Trowa. "Trowa, are you a Bearer or a Sire?" he asked as if he hadn´t been thinking about anything else the whole time.  
  
This time Trowa nearly choked with shock. "I beg your pardon?" he said, turning to the lifebearer.  
  
Duo waved his hand. "I mean, I´ve never seen you shave and you´re too skinny for a Sire..."  
  
"Of course I am a Sire!" Trowa answered, offended that someone could have mistaken him in such a way. "Just because I have only five hairs on my chin doesn´t mean that I am a lifebearer!" A lifebearer? Him? And how did this question come up anyway?  
  
As if reading his mind, Duo said: "Me and Mil were talking... thinking..." He fell silent, then: "But you would look so cute with a belly."  
  
Trowa didn´t answer to that comment, though he glared at Heero who snickered with mirth. "It´s not that funny!" he protested.  
  
"Oh yes, it is!" Heero repeated the earlier comment.  
  
The healer waved them off, muttering something about crazy drunk Bearers and their even crazier mates. He decided to let the whole thing be and enjoy the fireworks instead. He hadn´t seen one in a small eternity.  
  
The fireworks lit up the sky for almost half an hour. Green, blue, white, red, orange, yellow. Soon the air filled with the smell of brimstone but nobody seemed to mind, just like they didn´t mind the loud booms the flares made.  
  
When the town fell silent and dark once again, people started to leave for their homes. The feast was over and their work waited for them in the morning.  
  
It was time for them to head back too. But when Heero looked down at his mate, he found him fast asleep, standing cuddled and held tightly in his love´s arms. Heero smiled gently, feeling the love swell in his chest. This was his mate and only his, and he had never seen anything more beautiful.  
  
He handed Trowa the leather wrapped bundle of knives, then swept Duo into his arms, adjusting his grip, so that Duo´s head laid propped on the Enforcer´s shoulder. The lifebearer never stirred.  
  
The three men set off for the ship.  
  
TBC


	6. Chapter 5

**Due South - part 5**  
  
by KatiKat

"You´re still here?" Trowa asked as he stepped into the cabin they shared and looked at Heero. The Enforcer didn´t move from his perch on the side of the bunk where his claimed one lay, sleeping.  
  
"He still hasn´t woken up." Heero was really worried. "It´s already afternoon. What´s wrong with him?"  
  
The healer lay the leather bound book he carried in his hand on the table, then crossed the small cabin to the bed. He touched Duo´s cheek, then his forehead. The longhaired young man mumbled something, then turned on his side, facing the wall, his back toward his companions.  
  
Trowa smiled. "There is nothing wrong with him, Heero."  
  
The Enforcer frowned. "Then why isn´t he waking up? I tried to wake him but he didn´t even twitch."  
  
This time Trowa couldn´t help but grin. "He is just drunk. Probably for the first time in his life. Yes, he is still not as strong as he used to be, but he is not sick. His body simply reacted strongly to the alcohol. Let him sleep. I guarantee that he won´t be too happy when he wakes up." Trowa had gotten drunk a couple of times in his life already, and he knew the annoying results. A hangover was a rather nasty thing.  
  
Heero made a noncommittal sound, then caressed Duo´s now quite messy braid.  
  
Watching his friend, the healer sighed. "Heero, why don´t you take a break. Go out in the fresh air. The sun is setting now and at night it´s too chilly to go outside."  
  
The Enforcer didn´t even look at his friend when he shook his head. He wanted to be there when his mate woke up.  
  
Trowa rolled his eyes. This was too much. "Gods in the sky, Heero. He is not dying." Who would have thought that the tough loner was such a mother hen?  
  
The healer pulled the chair from the table and sat down. To pull his friend´s attention from his silently snoring love, Trowa asked. "Did you decide when you´ll give Duo what you bought for him in the market?"  
  
Heero shook his head again. "I don´t know... I just can´t walk up and simply give it to him."  
  
Trowa lifted his eyebrows. "Why not? He will be very happy, no matter how he receives it."  
  
The Enforcer sighed and finally turned to his friend. "You see... we didn´t even have a proper ceremony with the child and his father´s treatment. Such a ceremony is usually held by the chieftain, but we couldn´t go to the village and ask for one, since the chieftain was Duo´s Sire."  
  
Trowa nodded. He did understand but still. "You should really give it to him before we reach the City though. I know that you still have a couple of weeks, but you shouldn´t leave it for the last possible moment. You said it yourself, Duo needs some outer sign of his claiming for the people to see. He's suffered enough because of prejudice."  
  
Heero sighed. "I know you´re right. But I wanted Duo to have a real ceremony. He never asked but..." He turned to his mate who just flopped onto his back again, and touched Duo´s face. "... he deserves it."  
  
"The captain could do it," Trowa suggested casually.  
  
The Enforcer turned to his friend with a frown. "Could do what?"  
  
"Conduct the ceremony, you know? It´s rather common thing at sea." When Heero looked at him doubtfully, Trowa raised his hands. "If you don´t believe me, ask Rufus. I bet he would be willing to help you. He looks gruff, but I think he has a soft heart."  
  
"I don´t know..." Heero said, running his fingers down Duo´s cheek. It was so soft.  
  
Trowa sighed. "You know what? Think about it. But outside. Being confined to such a small room isn´t doing you any good." Seeing that his friend was about to protest once again, the healer continued. "I promise not to move from Duo´s side until you come back."  
  
After a minute of persuading and even physical pushing, Heero reluctantly agreed to go out for a couple of minutes.  
  
"And don´t forget to eat something!" Trowa called after him, then closed the door softly and shook his head. "Love does strange things to people." With that, he sat down at the table and engrossed himself in the book he borrowed from the ship´s healer.  
  
-----  
  
Duo groaned, turned onto his side and groaned again. His head was killing him and his stomach felt as if it were floating on water. And the rocking motion of his bed didn´t help either. He cracked one eye open, then shut it tight immediately. Light hurt. A lot.  
  
"Good morning!" chirped a cheerful voice somewhere in front of him. "Or I should say good evening since the sun is already setting."  
  
Making an unintelligible sound, the braided lifebearer managed to crack his eyes open. He blinked once, twice until he managed to focus on the person sitting at the table, leafing through some thick leather book.  
  
"Trowa?" Duo croaked, his throat parched.  
  
The healer closed the book, then turned to the young man on the bed. "Yes. How do you feel?"  
  
Another nonsensical sound, then Duo turned on his back. "Why does my head ache so much?" he asked, rubbing his forehead.  
  
"You have a hangover," Trowa said with a smile.  
  
Duo turned to his friend, a frown on his face. "A hang-... How? That´s impossible. I don´t drink."  
  
"Well, that´s probably the reason why something as innocent as flambed cherries could take you down so easily."  
  
Duo groaned again, hiding his face behind his hands. He got drunk. Oh gods. He had never been drunk before. Then something struck him. "Wait a minute. How did I get back from town?"  
  
"Heero carried you in his arms."  
  
This time the braided lifebearer moaned his misery. That was so embarassing. But... He turned his head and looked around the small cabin, lit by the oil lamp hanging on the hook from the ceiling. "Where is Heero?" He kind of hoped that in a situation like this the Enforcer would stay with him until he woke up. Unless... "He isn´t mad at me, is he?"  
  
For a moment Trowa thought about teasing Duo, but after seeing the truly worried expression on his face, he decided otherwise. "No, he isn´t," he reassured the braided lifebearer. "Actually he was really worried when morning came and he couldn´t wake you up. I think you really scared him."  
  
Duo blushed and looked away. "Sorry."  
  
"He sat with you for hours, not wanting to leave before you woke up. But in the end I managed to convince him to go out and breathe a little fresh air. I promised to stay with you and tell him as soon as you woke up. He left only minutes ago."  
  
Duo sighed. To get drunk from cherries flambe was bad - and embarassing - but it would be much worse if Heero was mad at him too. Oh gods, his head ached. Duo closed his eyes.  
  
The sound of a chair scraping over the wooden floor echoed through the small cabin, then footsteps followed, stopping next to the bunk. "Here, drink this. It´ll help."  
  
Duo sat up, took the offered cup in his hands and sniffed at it. "Eww, that smells awful." He wrinkled his nose.  
  
Trowa smiled. "But it´ll definitely ease your aching head."  
  
The lifebearer looked at his friend doubtfully, but then took a tentative sip of the bitter, dark brown liquid. Almost immediately, the throbbing in his head lessened. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief. "Thanks."  
  
The healer sat down in his chair. "Well, I have had enough hangovers in my life to know how to remedy them."  
  
Duo opened his eyes, hearing the bitter tone in the other man´s voice but seeing the closed off expression on Trowa´s face he decided to let it go and not ask. Then he looked around the small cabin, frowning. "Where is Shini?"  
  
Trowa blinked, the odd expression disappearing from his face. "He is with Mil. Apparently he fell in love with little Zechs. He won´t move away from the cradle." He smiled.  
  
"Mil..." Duo´s eyes popped wide. "By the gods, I promised Mil to help him with Zechs this morning!"  
  
"Yeah, he was asking about you. He was worried that you were sick. I assured him that you were merely drunk." Even though he was trying, the healer couldn´t help it and the corners of his mouth twitched.  
  
Duo groaned hiding his red face behind his hand. "Gods, does everybody on this ship know?"  
  
"Well, since Heero had to carry you on board..."  
  
The lifebearer groaned again. "This is so embarassing..."  
  
Trowa smirked again. For a while they were both silent and Trowa decided to return to his book. Duo sipped at his tea, his stomach settling and head feeling almost normal again. When the healer turned the second page and lifted his eyes from the book long enough to throw a glance at his friend, he saw that Duo was obviously thinking hard about something.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Huh?" Duo turned to him. "Oh, it´s just... I mean..." He flushed red, stammered again, then took a deep breath and decided to try again. "I've wanted to ask you something for a couple of days now, but I wanted to do it when we were alone..." His voice trailed off as he obviously lost his nerve again.  
  
Trowa closed the book. It was obvious that he wouldn´t finish it today and there were still some weeks of journey in front of them during which he would have nothing much to do. But his friend seemed troubled and needed his help now.  
  
"I´m listening," he urged Duo.  
  
The lifebearer fumbled with his cup, staring into the rest of the dark brown liquid on the bottom. "It´s... it´s about sex," he finally forced out, flushing even more. Duo knew that the healer had seen him naked, bleeding, puking... knew more about him than Duo himself, but to actually talk about such things with him... He had never been good at it.  
  
"What do you want to know?" Trowa asked gently, not wanting to spook the lifebearer.  
  
"It´s not the sex per se. I´m not a virgin after all, but... Am I... am I okay enough yet to have sex again?" Do asked tentatively.  
  
Oh, that was what bothered the longhaired man. "For normal, gentle intercourse... probably yes. But I wouldn´t recommend anything strenuous. You might feel okay, but your body can have a different opinion in this matter."  
  
Still bright red, Duo nodded and relaxed a notch. "Good."  
  
Trowa looked at his friend searchingly for a moment. "Duo, can I ask you something now?"  
  
The lifebearer turned to look at him. "Huh? Yes, of course."  
  
"Duo, do you want to have sex with Heero - I think we are speaking about sex with Heero here, right? - because you love him and want to be even closer with him, share something special with him... or simply because you want a baby? Think carefully about the answer because if you want to do it for the wrong reasons, you could hurt Heero terribly."  
  
Duo huffed with indignation. "Of course I meant Heero. Who else? I love him." Then he fell silent, thinking about the question Trowa asked him. "I... I want to make love with Heero because I love him and I want to give him something special. I... ache for his touch so much sometimes..." He looked Trowa directly in the eyes. "Yes, I want to have a baby with Heero, but not now, not yet. I know that it won´t be easy when we arrive in the City. Even with Wufei´s money. To bring a child into such a situation would just add to our troubles. And it wouldn´t be fair to the baby itself... So, no. I don´t want to make love with Heero only to have a child. I want to be with him. We have been together for months now and nothing has happened as of yet and sometimes... sometimes I fear that I´m not attractive enough for Heero, that maybe he minds that I´m not a virgin after all..." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I´m scared that he doesn´t want me."  
  
Trowa sighed. He would really have to talk to Heero about this or his two best friends would never cross this particular bridge. It was time for Duo to understand the truth about his mate. "Duo, do you realize that Heero is a virgin? There might have been Bearers in the village, interested in seducing him for the power his position represented, but he never accepted their offers. He never had intimate intercourse with anybody."  
  
Duo blinked at him, his eyes going wide with shock. "I never... I didn´t... I didn´t realize that he had never... Oh, my..." He touched his brows with one hand and rubbed them. "I´m such a fool, really."  
  
"He knows a lot about the theory of it, after all he had seen more than one couple have sex out in the woods, but he had never done it himself."  
  
Duo blinked again. Had seen... in the woods. Oh gods, did he see him and Wufei too? The lifebearer blushed deeply, closing his eyes. He didn´t want to know. Really. He would never be able to live with it if that was the truth. Heero had loved him for so long and if he saw him make love with Wufei, give the black-haired youth his virginity... that must have hurt like hell then...  
  
Noticing the long-haired man sinking into uncomfortable thoughts, Trowa decided to change the subject slightly. "I was asking about your reason because of another thing too," he said, bringing Duo´s attention back.  
  
"Huh?" Duo said.  
  
"Since I would not like to see you pregnant so soon after the whole bleeding disaster, I would like to recommend you some protection in case you do decide to make love with Heero."  
  
Duo, whose color returned to normal for a moment, blushed again. It seemed like this was his permanent condition in Trowa´s presence this day. "Err, I know some potions-"  
  
"No!" the healer interrupted him sharply. "No potions, Duo. I know that some Bearers do drink them, but the homemade stuff can be very dangerous. One ingredient too many and you could cause permanent damage or even become barren." Trowa really hated the village rumors the old lifebearers spread about potions and their abilities to prevent pregnancy. In most cases, they caused more harm than good.  
  
Duo paled. "You mean... I could have caused it myself? I could have caused the miscarriage of my child?" The thought horrified Duo. Was it possible that he killed his child himself?  
  
Trowa shook his head slowly. "I don´t think so, no. From what I´ve seen the fetus wasn´t nestled properly and your Sire´s beating caused the rest. Maybe you could have carried the baby to term but you could have lost it anyway, even if you hadn´t been beaten."  
  
Duo swallowed painfully, the tight grip on his heart weakening. "But... what should we use then?"  
  
The healer got up from the chair and walked towards his bag, hidden underneath Duo´s bunk. He pulled it out and took out a box. He opened it and reached inside. "Use this," he said and handed Duo a small bundle wrapped in plain brown cloth.  
  
"What is it?" Duo asked and setting the empty cup to the side, he unwrapped the small thing. He blinked with confusion when he saw the small, flesh colored thing lying on his palm. He took it into his hand and spread it out.  
  
Trowa sat down on the bed. "I bought it in the City. They call it a 'preservative' there since it protects the lifebearer from becoming pregnant."  
  
"Oh. And where do I put it?" He turned the soft pouch like thing in his hands.  
  
The healer looked at him and raised his eyebrows. Duo stared, then turned his eyes back to the thing in his hands. Suddenly, with a silent "oh", he flushed such a deep red color that the bed sheets almost caught fire.  
  
"You put it on the Sire´s member, then bind these two twines-" he pointed at the strings at the open end of the preservative "-around it to keep it in place. It´s made from the intestines of a pig-" seeing Duo´s disgusted look, Trowa smiled "-don´t worry, they clean them completely first, but they give you the fleshy feeling as if you were touching the real thing, you know?"  
  
Embarassment forgotten for a moment, Duo ran his fingers down the protection. It really did feel fleshy. But would he be able to put this on Heero? Without dying of embarassment?  
  
As if reading Duo´s thoughts, Trowa continued. "It does require some time to get used to, but the whole act of putting it on could become just as much a part of the foreplay as anything else. It does feel good," he assured the lifebearer when the other man looked at him doubtfully.  
  
"You mean, you have... you used..." Duo couldn´t ask after all, no matter how curious he was.  
  
Trowa´s smile was gentle. "Yes, I use such a thing every time I make love to somebody. And before you come up with another embarassing question - no, I haven´t had sex for quite a while now. Not since I had stayed at your village."  
  
"Oh." Then Duo frowned. "What do you mean with another embarassing question?"  
  
The healer snorted. "Well, if I remember it right it WAS you who asked me yesterday in the middle of the town´s main square if I was a Bearer or a Sire."  
  
Duo groaned, hiding his face in one of his hands. "Please, tell me that was the last embarassing thing I did yesterday?"  
  
Trowa tried to supress his smirk. "Well, you called Heero 'darling' too, and jumped into his arms."  
  
"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. Please, Trowa, never let me anywhere near alcohol, okay?" he mumbled.  
  
This time, the healer laughed out loud.  
  
-----  
  
Over the course of the next few days it looked like the bad luck followed Duo and Heero. Between Heero promising Rufus to help him with the training of Treize´s personal guard, and Duo helping Mil with the baby, they never seemed to find time alone. Something or someone always came up, disturbing them. And so it seemed that the chance for Heero asking Duo officially to bond with him and for Duo to try and seduce his mate was nowhere in sight. But in the end, five days after setting out to sea, it looked like luck decided to be on their side for once.  
  
"These are for me?" Duo asked in awe, as Heero handed him the amazing set of knives. Even to his inexperienced eyes, they were a masterpiece.  
  
Heero nodded. "Yes. I thought you should learn how to protect yourself and knives are easy to hide." He pulled up his sleeves, revealing two leather sheets bound to his forearms. "We will have time enough on this journey for me to teach you some basic moves."  
  
Duo nodded, clasping the knives to his chest. Then he moved closer to his mate, where they sat on their bunk and leaned into him. It seemed like forever since they had been together alone for a prolonged period of time. He really loved Trowa, Mil and Zechs but it really bothered him that they always seemed to pop in at the least suitable moment.  
  
"I love you, you know?" Duo whispered. "Thank you for looking out for me."  
  
Heero embraced his love, bringing him even closer. He really missed the seclusion of their hut back in the woods and especially the privacy. They managed to steal some time to just cuddle together, but on a ship with so many men, even their small cabin didn´t offer much retreat. "I love you too."  
  
For a moment they enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of just being together, then Heero pushed his lover away slightly and reached into the pouch at his belt. When Duo looked at him questioningly, Heero cleared his throat. "I... I waited for us to be alone and... " He cleared his throat again, then blushed slightly, which caused Duo to raise his eyebrows. "I... I wanted to ask if-"  
  
But he never finished his proposal, and Duo never heard it since at that very moment, the door was thrown open and Trowa almost fell in, panting. "A storm is coming. It looks really bad."  
  
At the same time, the ship lurched as the first of the high waves the storm was causing reached the ship. The dark sky opened and it started to pour icy rain.  
  
TBC 


	7. Chapter 6

Due South - part 6

**Due South - part 6**

by KatiKat

"Duo, I need more bandages!" Trowa shouted as he and the ship´s healer tried to stop one of the sailors from bleeding to death. The young man fell from the rigging, after being knocked off by a strong gust of wind, and after hitting the deck, he broke his leg, the bone digging through the skin, making him bleed badly.

Tearing the door of the small supply cabin open, Duo ran in, grabbed the clean strips of linen and ran back to his friend. "Here," he said. When the storm began and the captain accepted Heero´s help on the deck gladly, Duo decided he had to do something too. Privately, he admitted that his reasons weren´t all that altruistic - as long as he had something to do, he didn´t have to think about the danger Heero was in outside.

Trowa nodded in thanks, his face smeared with his patient´s blood. "Do you think we will need to amputate?" he asked his fellow healer quietly, so that the delirious sailor wouldn´t hear him.

The ship´s healer - Lipkin as Duo found out - shook his head. "I don´t know. If the bleeding doesn´t stop..." Lipkin was a middle aged man, but right now with his face creased with worry, he looked ancient - at least to Duo.

The braided young man swallowed and tried to look everywhere but the gaping wound. He didn´t mind blood, but this was different. He could see the man´s bone!

Suddenly the ship lurched and the floor seemed to vanish from under their feet. The ship dropped - probably quickly descending from the crest of a wave and shooting down its steep wall. Duo staggered, then tumbled to the ground while Trowa and Lipkin caught themselves on the sides of the table on which their patient lay. The young man screamed in pain.

"What the...?" Duo´s question was cut off as one of the lamps dangling violently from the ceiling fell of the hook and smashed on the ground. The lifebearer managed to roll to the side as the oil splashed around, catching fire immediately.

"Duo!" Trowa shouted.

The braided man scrambled to his feet, snatched one of the woolen blankets prepared for the drenched sailors and then he proceeded to hit the flames vigorously, slowly getting the fire under control. In spite of the cold air, Duo was drenched with sweat when he finally dropped to his knees, the fire extinguished, the sick bay stinking of burned wood and wool. His lungs burned, just like his hands. He coughed, tears streaming down his face, then looked down at his blistered hands. They hurt. A lot.

Someone dropped to their knees in front of him. "You okay?" Trowa. The healer took Duo´s burned hands into his blood-splattered ones and gently turned them. The fire didn´t catch the palms, only the back of his hands. The burns weren´t serious, only very painful. Trowa smiled at him. "It´s not so bad. I have a salve that will ease the pain."

Before Duo could say something, the door leading up to the deck burst open, showering both men with icy water. The friends scrambled to their feet immediately as three men - the two on each side carrying the one in the middle - stumbled down the steep stairs, water cascading down the narrow ladder.

"What happened?" Lipkin shouted as he pushed Trowa and Duo to the side, showing the drenched sailors where to lay their comrade.

"The mast went down, broke like a splinter," one of the sailors answered, panting for breath. "They are bringing one more man down." He helped to settle the unconscious sailor on the bunk tucked out of the away against the ship´s hull. "The other saved General Kushrenada´s life. He pushed him out of the way and was hit himself. He got tangled in the ropes and almost went overboard along with the mast. But the General saved him."

Another pair of feet started to descend down the stairs and when the tall figure of the newcomer came fully into sight, Duo´s breath caught in his throat. "Rufus..." he whispered. Over the shoulder of the muscled man a limp figure hang. A very familiar figure... Duo screamed. "Heero!"

--

Milliardo cursed as another wave came crashing against the hull of the ship. He staggered, almost falling to his knees. He was used to travelling on the sea and this wasn´t his first journey on the Peacemillion II either but he had never experienced such a storm.

Another wave shook the ship and little Zechs started to cry. Shinigami, lying close by the cradle, raised his head from his paws and whined softly, looking from the cradle to Mil and back.

The blond man made his way from the door he had to close again, since it kept opening itself as the ship shifted from side to side to where his child lay. "I´m coming, nothing to fear," he called softly, then added, "your Bearer is scared enough for the both of us." As he reached the cradle, he took the wailing boy in his arms and pressed the small head to his neck as Duo taught him. "Shh, everything will be okay. I´m here, Shini is here..." And your Sire is out there in the storm. He knew that he couldn´t be mad at Treize since just two years previously he would have been out there too, enjoying the thrill of danger - however stupid it seemed now that he was holding his son in his arms.

The ship shifted to the side, the floor suddenly sloping. Mil staggered, hitting the edge of the table with his hip. He closed his arms around his son protectively as Shinigami pressed himself against the blond man´s left side. The cabin was illuminated only by the oil lamp that was hanging from the ceiling and swinging from side to side in a maddening rhythm, hiding the room in shadows. The blond lifebearer stood, now facing the windows. He couldn´t see anything but darkness outside since the storm snuffed the last shimmers of daylight.

And then he noticed it - a spiderweb of cracks in one of the window panes. His heart clenched with horror and he swallowed a curse. He quickly moved over the unsteady floor to the bunk. The child was still whimpering softly, but Mil didn´t have the time to comfort him now. He caressed the tear-streaked face, then took the pillows and covers and made a safe nest for the boy so that he wouldn´t fall off the bed.

"Shinigami, stay," Mil ordered the dog and pointed at the spot next to the bed. Animal or not, Mil was sure that Shini would make sure that Zechs was safe.

Milliardo then made his way back to the rear windows, the floor running away from underneath his feet. Reaching up, he unhooked the inner shutters, which were fastened to the ceiling. All he had to do was lower them and lock them in place. This way the water wouldn´t get in even if the window panes broke.

But at the moment the first heavy panel of wood came down with a loud bang, the ship lurched violently. Milliardo didn´t expect it, so he lost his footing and fell to the ground, his head hitting the edge of the table. When the ice cold wave came crashing through the window, he was already unconscious.

--

"How is he?" Treize asked Trowa, his voice barely audible over the roar of the waves. They were standing in the shadowed sick bay, watching the still figure of Heero lying on one of the bunks. With Rufus´ help Trowa stripped Heero naked, throwing the wet clothes to the ground with the intent of taking care of them later, then dressed his unconscious friend in a plain linen shirt that Duo had quickly brought from their cabin.

The healer sighed. "I don´t know. I didn´t find any broken bones but the wound on his head doesn´t look good. It worries me that he still hasn´t woke up." Trowa frowned. "It may be a simple concussion or something more." The green-eyed young man threw Treize a quick look. "I don´t want to worry Duo, though."

Treize nodded, understanding Trowa´s concern fully. They both turned to look at Duo where he sat on the side of the narrow bed on which Heero lay montionless under the warm blankets. The braided young man hadn´t left his love´s side since the moment they brought Heero in, holding the Enforcer´s cold hand in his bandaged ones, eyes fixed on the pale bruised face, half of which was covered with a thick bandage. They both looked like statues, carved out of white marble, never moving a muscle.

Suddenly, the door of the sick bay flew open, Duo the only one awake not reacting to the loud bang as it hit the wall. "General!" called the panicked young sailor who rushed in, wide-eyed.

"What is it?" Treize asked, motioning for the young man to come closer.

"Something happened. We heard something from your cabin and now your mate is not responding and the door seems to be blocked. We can´t get in."

Treize felt as if an iron fist clenched his insides. Not his family. Not again! Not waiting for another word, he flew out of the sick bay and down the narrow corridor.

"Go!" Lipkin waved Trowa off, making it clear that he could handle the sick bay alone.

Trowa nodded and hurried after the General. When he finally reached him, the taller man was already banging on the closed door of his cabin, calling his lover´s name. Milliardo didn´t  
respond though. There was a sound of crashing waves coming from behind the door and the terrified cries of the small child were growing louder by the second. And the door still wouldn´t budge even though both Treize and Trowa threw themselves against it with their shoulders. Suddenly, the healer looked down, realizing that his boots were soaking wet. Treize followed his sight and paled as his eyes settled on the ice cold sea water leaking from under the door.

"Step back!" Treize ordered Trowa and when the healer followed the order the general whirled around in the narrowed corridor, his leg kicking high, hitting the thin planks filling out the door´s hardwood frame. There was a crack as they splintered and when the general repeated his motion the second time, they broke apart. Together, the two men tore the upper half of the door apart. On the other side they were met by a complete, unforgiving darkness.

"Light!"

Trowa unhooked the lantern that dangled from the ceiling in the corridor and handed it over to the general who pushed it through the hole in the door and gasped with shock as the flickering light illuminated the devastation inside.

The windows were gone, empty frames open to the storm outside, giving the water - sea water and rain alike - and cold wiind access to the room and its occupants. Only one of the shutters had been let down but since it was unlocked, it kept hitting the window frame every time the ship bobbed on the violent waves. The water was already standing ankle high in the cabin and on the surface of the water splintered wood swam. And among the rubbish, Milliardo lay on the floor, Shinigami keeping his face above the surface by the collar of his shirt that he held in his tightly clenched jaws. The blond lifebearer´s face was pale, streaked with blood gushing from the deep wound on his forehead, his lips already turning blue. And on the bed, safely tucked in a small nest of blankets and pillows the baby lay, crying loud, arms and legs flailing in the air.

"Mil!" Treize shouted, lowering the lamp to see what was blocking the door. One of the chairs had been thrown across the room by the wave that broke in through the windows and lodged itself under the door knob. The general cursed. Try as he might, the piece of furniture wouldn´t budge.

"Let me," Trowa said, touching Treize´s arm. The aristocrat moved aside, holding the lantern high as the healer squeezed himself through the small opening with the flexibilty of a cat. Once on the other side, Trowa kicked the jammed chair aside and the door swung open.

Treize rushed in, quickly hanging the lamp on the hook in the ceiling, then crouched down by his mate´s side. As he gathered the soaked, shaking form of his unconscious lover in his arms, Shinigami let go of the shirt he was holding in his teeth. Though concerned for Mil´s welfare, Treize took a moment to pet the dog on the head. The beast had saved Milliardo´s life after all. "Good job, Shinigami." As if understanding, the black dog wagged his tail.

"Take him to our cabin," Trowa shouted over the noise of the crashing waves as he moved to the bed and took the terrified child in his arms. At the same moment, another wave swept through the cabin, almost knocking them all to the floor.

"Rufus!" the general called as the captain of his personal guard appeared in the doorway, looking widly around the room. "The windows."

The tall man understood immediately, moving quickly through the cabin to take care of the problem while the general lifted the dripping body of his lover off the floor. Following Trowa out of the room then, Treize clutched Milliardo as close to him as he could, praying to all the gods he knew to not take his second family away from him too. He knew that this time he would not survive it.

TBC


	8. Chapter 7

**Due South - part 7**  
  
by KatiKat  
  
Duo looked down at the child in his arms. The boy was now sleeping peacefully, dressed in dry clothes and snuggled contently in the warm blanket. But when Trowa burst into the sick bay and pushed the child in Duo´s arms, the boy was screaming, his little face red and streaked with tears. It took Duo quite a while to change Zechs´ diapers, dress him and calm him down enough for the boy to settle and fall asleep. And now the braided lifebearer was sitting on a stool by the bed, in which his unconscious lover was lying unmoving, and was rocking the baby gently, humming just loud enough to drown out the loud sound of the crashing waves.  
  
Duo had still no idea what was actually going on. When Trowa appeared, together with Shinigami who was now lying at the braided man´s feet and looking at him with large, concerned eyes, the healer didn´t say much. He just mumbled something about Milliardo being hurt and broken windows before he disappeared again, leaving the care of the baby in the lifebearer´s arms. Duo was naturally worried about Mil, but nothing was more important to him right now than Heero and his welfare. On the other hand, the child served as a good distraction from the problems at hand.  
  
The ship lurched again and Duo caught himself on the side of Heero´s bunk and winced as his burned, bandaged hand bumped against the wooden edge of the bed; he almost forgot about his own injuries, the shock of Heero´s injury helping him push feelings such as pain to the back of his mind. The oil lamps swung wild, letting the shadows dance around the room. Some of the sailors in the sick bay cried out as the violent movement jarred their wounds. But the one that meant the most to Duo didn´t react at all. With every passing moment the Enforcer lay unconscious, the pressure in Duo´s chest increased.  
  
"Come on, love," Duo whispered, leaning closer and squeezing his mate´s hand. "Come on, please. Wake up for me." The other young man lay unmoving though.  
  
Duo squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He felt the prickle in them and was determined not to let the tears fall, to hold his head high so that Heero wouldn´t have to be ashamed for him when he woke up. And he would wake up, of that Duo was convinced. The Enforcer wouldn´t leave him alone. He promised.  
  
The hand on his shoulder startled Duo. His head shot up and he turned, his eyes wild. Immediately he calmed down though, noticing that it was only Rufus, crouching in front of him with a worried expression on his face.  
  
"Are you all right, Duo?" the bear of a man asked in a gentle voice that didn´t quite fit his appearance.  
  
The lifebearer sighed and straightened, rocking the child in his arms again. "No, I´m not," he admitted. "I thought that it was finally over, you know? All the stress and the problems. I thought that we could finally begin a new life. And now this..." He turned from the bearded man to his bruised, unconscious love and caressed the hand lying on top of the blanket. "He saved Treize´s life, huh?"  
  
Rufus nodded and looked at the hurt young man on the bed too. "Yes. He was really brave. If it wasn´t for him, Lord Treize would be dead now," he said quietly, his voice laced with self-loathing. After all, it was his job to protect the Count and because of his incompetency, one young man had been gravely injured. It wasn´t right. It should have been him.  
  
Duo nodded. "He is the bravest, most wonderful man I´ve ever met," he said softly, pride mixed with deep concern and fear radiating from his voice.  
  
The big man nodded, looking searchingly at the pale, bruised young man. There was something he wanted to ask Duo... though he wasn´t sure if it was the right place and the right time, but... "Duo, I..." he started, his voice trailing off.  
  
Shifting Zechs in his arms, Duo turned to the captain. "What is it?" he asked.  
  
Rufus cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one leg to the other in his crouched position. "When I helped Trowa undress Heero, I..." The captain cleared his throat again. "I noticed the tattoo," he finally said so softly that Duo almost hadn't heard him.  
  
The gentle rocking stopped and the child scrunched his little face in displeasure. Duo didn´t notice though, for he froze - body, heart and soul. Suddenly he couldn´t breathe, and his mind started to whirl. Rufus noticed the tattoo marking Heero as an Enforcer. That was one of the few secrets they kept from their new friends because for an Enforcer to leave his village was punishable with death. And it didn´t matter that there was nothing left of the village. When the village went down, the Enforcer died with it. No exceptions...  
  
"I... I don´t know what you´re talking about," Duo said, lowering his head to the baby to hide his face.  
  
Rufus sighed, then reached out, touched Duo´s chin and lifted his head. "I´m not trying to cause trouble," he whispered when he looked the lifebearer in his terrified eyes. "Gods know that I have secrets of my own and this one is not my business but... he should have the tattoo removed. When we arrive at the City, I can recommend you someone who doesn´t ask any questions when you pay him enough. It would be safer for both of you because sooner or later someone will notice it and if it got out..."  
  
When Rufus let go of Duo´s face, the braided young man lowered his eyes and didn´t answer. The captain waited a moment longer, but after getting no reaction from Duo, he sighed heavily and got up. He turned to head for the door when a silent call stopped him. He turned to the younger man.  
  
"Thank you, Rufus," Duo said softly, his words laced with gratitude. He glanced at the tall man, then quickly lowered his eyes again.  
  
Rufus smiled. "He is a good man, a brave one. It wasn´t cowardice that caused him to leave his post. I don´t know what happened and I don´t even want to know. The fewer people that know, the smaller chance of somebody saying something they shouldn´t." Then his smile softened. "Take good care of him, Duo. He might play the tough guy, but he loves you very much. Even a protector needs protection from time to time." With that, the large man left.  
  
-----  
  
Milliardo moaned silently, a sigh passing through his slightly open lips as his body shuddered with cold. Treize made a low hushing sound and pressed his naked body closer to his mate. He lay spooned beside the blond man, Mil´s head pillowed on his arm. The brown-haired aristocrat pushed the long blond bangs from his lover´s forehead, touching the pale, cold skin of his face.  
  
Treize had no idea how much time had passed since they found Milliardo almost frozen to death in the ice cold water and he didn´t care. He concentrated his whole being on warming up his mate. To share their body heat was actually Trowa´s idea, for the healer couldn´t find any other way to raise Milliardo´s extremely low body temperature quickly enough on the cold ship where everything was wet, or at least damp, thanks to the storm. Treize didn´t mind at all when Trowa came up with this idea. It gave him something to do and he could hold his lover in his arms at the same time. And he needed that.  
  
Milliardo shifted again, a slight frown settling on his brows. Treize caressed his cheek again, kissing the top of his head, careful as not to touch the sore spot on the back of his head where a large, discolored bump appeared. Trowa said that Milliardo had to have hit his head on the edge of the table or something similar, fortunately the wound didn´t bleed much, the bleeding staunched by the cold water. Trowa was still rather concerned and warned Treize that head wounds were a rather tricky thing and they wouldn´t know how Milliardo had actually fared until he woke up. The aristocrat prayed that it would be soon and that everything would be all right.  
  
Treize laid his head on the pillow and pulled Milliardo even closer, letting his arm rest on the blond man´s stomach. He closed his eyes, for the dancing shadows of the wildly swinging lamp made his eyes hurt. But enclosed in the darkness behind his eye lids, his mind started to roam free, digging up pictures from the past, a past that made his heart clench and soul hurt.  
  
When he had lost his first mate and their little boy, the pain almost killed him. But Mil had been there and had pulled him away from the edge of the abyss. For more than fifteen years, the blond boy turned man had been a steady part of his life, always there, never demanding anything, just needing, wanting to be there for him. Treize still couldn´t believe how stupid and cruel he had been when he had found out that Milliardo was pregnant, blaming the already overstressed man for trying to force him into bonding, pushing him away at the very moment Mil needed him the most. It was months later that he found out the secret about Milliardo´s origin, which explained why the blond man didn´t know he was a lifebearer, that he was capable of having children.  
  
Since his son had been born by an Other, a woman - which was punishable by death - Zechs bribed the village healer to fake the examination before the ceremony of Coming of Age, marking the blond man as a Sire. The old lord had been afraid that a closer examination could reveal something disturbing, some malformation that would betray the secret of Milliardo´s origin and put them all in the headsman´s hands. He had no reason to believe that Mil, as a Sire, would feel attracted to another Sire since it was rather unusual thing even in their society. It wasn´t exactly condemned, but it was frowned upon, especially in the higher society. And so he believed that their secret was safe. Unfortunately, it almost destroyed his son´s life.  
  
Treize sighed, guilt clenching his gut once again as he remembered the day when the leader of the desert rebels himself brought Milliardo - whom he captured during a battle just days ago - back to him, saying that his honor forbade him to use a pregnant Bearer for a hostage. From that moment on, everything went downhill and if it hadn´t been for this desert outlaw, he would have lost his lover forever.  
  
During the awful time of Milliardo´s pregnancy, Treize almost lost him numerous times. And now he had come close to losing him again. How many times would the blond man cheat death before it caught him? The brown-haired aristocrat sometimes had the feeling as if it was his fault, as if bad luck followed him and touched every person he loved. Milliardo and little Zechs were the heart of his universe. He couldn´t lose them. Not now, not ever.  
  
Milliardo moaned again, pulling Treize out of his thoughts. The nobleman lifted his head to look his mate in the eyes. "Mil?" he whispered and touched his cheek, willing the blond man to open his eyes.  
  
Drawing his face in a grimace of pain, Milliardo blinked his eyes open slowly. "Treize?" His voice was soft and confused.  
  
Treize smiled down at his lover. "Yes, it´s me. How do you feel?"  
  
Milliardo furrowed his brows. "Head hurts. A lot. Cold too." Then he blinked again, narrowing his eyes. "Treize? Why is it so dark in here?"  
  
An icy fist of fear gripped Treize´s heart. "It´s not dark. The lamp is burning." Unconsciously he glanced toward the swinging lantern. "You... you can´t see it?" he asked, his voice almost inaudible.  
  
"No." Milliardo froze and clenched his fist into the bed covers, every fiber in his body quivering. His fear was almost palpable. "Treize, am I... am I blind?"  
  
-----  
  
It was the touch on his shoulder that woke Duo up. His head shot up from where it was pillowed on his crossed arms, propped on the bunk on which Heero lay unconscious. Some time ago, Rufus brought in the wooden cradle that he had pried off the floor in the cabin of his Lord and hammered it to the floor just an arm´s length away from the braided young man. Little Zechs was now sleeping peacefully in his small bed, the cradle swinging gently as the ship danced on the stormy waves. Shinigami lay curled up next to the cradle, his attention skipping from the child to his two Masters.  
  
Duo blinked, then tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. When he could finally focus, his breath caught in his throat and his heart started to hammer with joy. From the bed, Heero was staring at him solemnly, drinking in the sight of his love.  
  
"Heero," Duo whispered, astonished, then threw himself on the bed, embracing the Enforcer as best he could, laying his head on the short-haired man´s chest. "Heero... I was so afraid." The lifebearer clenched his eyes tight, tears prickling behind his eye lids. He knew that he probably looked like some weepy weakling but he felt such relief, such a deep happiness that he couldn´t help it. "Don´t do this ever again, okay?" the lifebearer asked as he opened his eyes to gaze at Heero. He knew that it was impossible for Heero to give him such an oath. The need to save other people, to help them, was as much a part of the Enforcer as the love he felt for Duo. It made him who he was.  
  
The Enforcer was watching his love intently, as if trying to memorize every detail of his face. There was a strange emotion in his eyes, an emotion Duo could not indentify, though it was achingly similar to fear. Silently, Heero lifted his hand again and touched Duo´s braid, then ran his fingers up the shining hair and let it rest on the back of his love´s neck. The lifebearer closed his eyes and squeezed his mate. The Enforcer lay silent, and for a moment Duo thought that Heero had fallen asleep.  
  
But then Heero broke the silence that settled between them, his voice hoarse and just above a whisper. "Will you bond with me, Duo?"  
  
The lifebearer´s head shot up, Heero´s hand sliding from the back of his mate´s neck to his jaw. Duo blinked at him, surprised. "What?" he managed to say. "You... we are... you claimed me already. In the village." The long-haired young man´s heart clench with agitation. "You don´t... don´t you remember?"  
  
Even in his battered state, Heero managed to look amused. He lifted one of his eyebrows and his eyes, although filled with pain, danced with merry fire. "Of course I remember," he croaked out.  
  
Duo frowned. "Then why...?" He didn´t understand.  
  
"I want to do it properly. Before the gods and people," the Enforcer explained, caressing his mate´s cheek with his thumb.  
  
The long-haired man´s eyes softened and a gentle smile settled on his lips. He leaned his face into the calloused hand. "You don´t need to do it. You claimed me and that´s enough for me. I don´t need any ceremony to prove what you feel." Duo took the hand that was touching his face in his and lay both of them on his chest, above his beating heart. "I know it here."  
  
"But you deserve it," Heero whispered. "And I really want the gods to witness and bless our bond."  
  
Duo looked his mate in the eyes searchingly and realized that Heero really meant it. He really wanted a proper bond with a proper ceremony. Suddenly Duo felt very selfish. He never considered that Heero might want this. The lifebearer slipped from one life to another with thousands of other problems to worry about, so the thought of an actual bond never crossed his mind. He felt like a heel.  
  
Pushing all those thoughts aside, Duo smiled, putting everything he felt for the other man into it. "I would feel honored and very happy to bond with you, Heero Yuy. In front of the gods and people," he said.  
  
For the first time since they started to live together, Duo saw his mate smile a wide and genuinely happy smile. The little lines of worry that always marred his forehead vanished and even the black and blue bruises on the side of his face didn´t look so terrible anymore. "Thank you," he whispered, his eyes closing as if now that this one worry was covered, he could rest easily again.  
  
Duo reached out and lay his bandaged hand on the Enforcer´s cheek. "You don´t have to thank me. What would I do without you? You are everything, just... everything." His voice was thick with emotions.  
  
Heero´s smile softened and he moved his head gingerly to press his cheek against Duo´s palm. But then he frowned, cracking one eye open. "Duo? What happened to your hands?"  
  
Duo grinned. Yes, that was his mate, the mother hen. Everything would be okay again.  
  
-----  
  
And outside, the storm started to quiet down...


	9. Chapter 8

**Due South - part 8**  
  
by KatiKat  
  
"So, what do you intend to do now, Captain?" Treize asked as the ship´s captain listed all the damage the ship suffered during the storm.  
  
The storm itself was long gone, leaving the sky blue and cloudless. The Count stood together with the captain on the stern, overlooking the whole ship swamped with sailors who were trying to repair what they could with their limited resources. Fortunately, it was a nice day and since the ship sailed unceasingly south, the weather was getting warmer. Even the fourteen days they were on the ship were enough to leave the north, frozen with winter, behind and reach the warmer waters. The Peacemillion II was the fastest ship in the royal navy after all. Even in its battered state, it was able to achieve higher speed than most other ships in top condition.  
  
"We have to stop at the first harbor. There is no way around it," the captain sighed, rubbing his tired face. It had already been a couple of days since the storm had passed over them and he hardly slept at all, trying to hold the pride of the royal navy above water. Even now they could hear the pumps under the deck working without pause.  
  
Treize sighed too, then nodded. He thought so too. "The nearest harbor should be at El-One."  
  
"Yes. We should reach it in the late afternoon or early evening." The captain, a tall, blackhaired man of middle age, turned to the Count. "I´m sorry that I must delay you further, General. I know that you´re in a hurry."  
  
Treize patted the other man on the shoulder. "I understand, Captain, really. It can´t be helped. Better to repair the ship properly, than to go under."  
  
The captain nodded, then excused himself when one of the sailors shouted from the rigging to get his attention. Treize was left alone. He sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly as he let go of his calm and confident facade. Everybody on the ship already knew about what happened to Milliardo, his mate. There was no worse fate for a soldier than to go blind.  
  
Treize leaned against the railing, crossed his arms on his chest and let his head sink. He was so tired. He hadn´t slept properly since Mil opened his eyes to find darkness surrounding him. And even though Trowa sounded rather hopeful after examining the blond lifebearer properly, Milliardo´s state of health was weighing on them heavily. The healer tried to explain to them in calm tones what he thought must have happened, using an apple to demonstrate his theory.  
  
"It´s rather easy," Trowa said as he smashed the apple against the table then lifted it and showed them the bruised spot. "This is what happened to your brain." He let Mil trace his fingers around the now soft and juicy area. "It got rattled pretty bad and the blood from the ruptured veins gathered in one place and formed a bruise inside your head. And it looks like all the blood is putting pressure on something in your head that is allowing you to see. The fact that you can distinguish darkness and light supports my theory."  
  
"So, you think that Milliardo may recover?" Treize asked as he squeezed Mil´s ice cold hand. They were sitting on the bunk, the blond man bundled up in blankets, his empty eyes looking ahead without focus. Milliardo didn´t say anything during the whole examination, and even after that, he remained silent. Though Treize could feel the tension building up in him, his shoulders and arms tensing up with every one of Trowa´s confident words.  
  
Trowa crossed his arms on his chest. "I´m sure of it. I´ve seen such things happen during my travels and almost all of them ended with a happy end."  
  
This was the moment Milliardo finally snapped. "ALMOST all of them? Didn´t you say you were sure of my recovery?!" His voice was angry and quivering. It was starting to be too much for him. Way too much had happened in the last two weeks.  
  
The healer remained calm though. "Yes, I did say that, but the cases I have seen..."  
  
"You have seen," Mil sneered. "How old are you, really? Twenty-one? Twenty-two? How much could you have seen and how long could you have travelled during such a short time?!"  
  
Silence settled over the small cabin. Only Milliardo´s loud breathing could be heard. Treize looked at Trowa, who remained leaning motionless against the table. The young man´s face clouded over and shut down, all expression disappearing. The Count opened his mouth to say something when the healer spoke again. "You would be surprised," he said in a soft, ice cold tone.  
  
That seemed to cool down Mil´s anger, for he relaxed and slumped over. "I... I´m sorry... I didn´t..." he stammered, trying to apologize.  
  
"It´s okay," Trowa reassured him, but left the cabin shortly after that, his calm and open demeanor closed off.  
  
That happened exactly five days ago. Treize turned around, propped his elbows on the railing and looked at the calm, dark blue sea. Trowa´s prognosis gave them hope but with every passing day during which nothing happened and Milliardo remained blind, the weight on their shoulders seemed heavier and the possibility of recovering farther and farther away. Hopefully, Trowa was right and everything would turn out well in the end. For if someone existed in this world who deserved for his wishes to be fulfilled, it was Milliardo. Treize´s mate suffered enough already.  
  
-----  
  
"There," Duo said softly as he put the bottle away and helped Milliardo settle the baby with its head on the blond man´s shoulder, then sat down on the chair next to the bunk on which the Bearer and his child were settled. "Now rub his back and pat it a little."  
  
Sightless eyes half closed, Mil used touch for his hand to find its way to the small, warm back, then he started to rub it gently in circles. The little boy mewled happily. "Thank you so much for your help, Duo. I know I said it already..."  
  
"Many, many times," Duo interrupted him with a snicker. But then he sobered. "And I said it as many times - you don´t have to thank me. I like to help you with the little bit. He is such a good baby." He reached out and touched the covered head softly.  
  
"I know, it´s just..." Mil sighed. "What if... what if I stay blind?" His voice broke and he closed his eyes tightly to hide the prickling tears.  
  
"You won´t," the braided young man said firmly. "Trowa told you that your injury will heal, didn´t he?"  
  
"Yeah, but..."  
  
"No buts," Duo interrupted him. "Everything will be okay. Trowa wouldn´t have said something like that if he didn´t believe it. He is a very good healer and wouldn´t just tease you with a prospect that wouldn´t come true. You should know him that well already."  
  
Mil sighed again. "I´m sorry to bother you with my whining, but you´re the only one with whom I can talk. Treize... Treize is hurting as much as I am, even more. I bet he blames himself again - even though I have no idea why. This time it really wasn´t his fault. And Trowa... Trowa is my healer. He is a good listener, but I don´t want to hurt him even more by doubting his prognosis."  
  
Duo lifted his eyebrows at the words "even more". Did something happen he didn´t know anything about?  
  
"Duo...? What will I do if I can never see again?" Milliardo whispered fearfully. "I´m scared," he admitted, then buried his nose against his child´s neck.  
  
"What will you do? Live," Duo said, no doubt in his voice. Milliardo didn´t need his pity. He needed Duo´s strength to pull himself together. "You're not the first blind man on earth. You will learn to compensate and let people help you." The braided man leaned forward and squeezed his friend´s knee. "You have a son and a mate. They both love you and no matter what may or may not happen in the near future, they´ll always be there. Stop thinking about the injury and pressing the issue. It´s not helping you in the least and the little bit here-" Duo caressed the blanket covered back of the boy "-can feel your tension and it isn´t helping him either. Concentrate on the matters at hand and not on the possible future. Hold your son, listen to him as he sleeps, touch the soft skin on his little hands - you can do all these things and you do not need sight for it." Duo leaned even closer, his voice intense as if he wanted Milliardo to really understand him. "If - and I mean if - you stay blind, you will move on. You are not the suicide type, buddy, trust me. There will be regrets - I know all about regrets - but you will notice that there are things worth living for and you will grab them and hold onto them tightly." Then the corners of his mouth curled up in a teasing grin. "And if not, then I will kick your ass until you get it!"  
  
Milliardo chuckled and at the same time, the baby burped as loudly as a sailor, which made the two young men burst out in laugther. It was refreshing to let the accumulated tension out.  
  
That was when the cabin´s door opened and Trowa stepped in. Seeing Duo and feeling the merry atmosphere in the small cabin, he stopped in the door and lifted his eyebrows inquiringly.  
  
"Hey, Tro," Duo welcomed him with a smile and a little wave.  
  
"Am I disturbing you?"  
  
The braided young man shook his head. "No, not at all, we were just feeding the baby and... talking." He looked back at the blond man who was still smiling gently, his whole face alight once again.  
  
"Oh, I see," Trowa said, even though he didn´t understand at all. He stepped into the cabin he and his three friends used to share but that now belonged to the Count and his mate, since their large cabin was still uninhabitable.  
  
"So," Duo got to his feet, caressing one last time the now slumbering baby. "I think you are here to do your healer thingies so I will leave you alone, gentlemen. Rufus promised to give me lessons in self-defense since Heero is still feeling dizzy."  
  
Mil frowned in concern. "Is he all right?"  
  
The braided young man waved his hand even though his friend couldn´t see it. "Sure he is. He is just fuming because he is still weak as a kitten. He hates bed rest." He grinned, then almost danced to the door. "But I love the grumpy bear anyway." With that remark and a wink directed at Trowa, Duo slipped out the door.  
  
Milliardo chuckled to himself, then shifted the baby so that he was now lying in his arms. "He seems rather excited these last couple of days."  
  
Trowa smiled a little. "He should be. Heero finally gathered his nerve and asked Duo to bond with him officially."  
  
The blond man lifted an eyebrow. "Really?"  
  
The healer smirked. "Oh yes. And it only took the biggest storm of the century for him to do it."  
  
-----  
  
Heero frowned as he watched Rufus guide Duo through the first steps of hand to hand combat. He should be there with him. He should be the one teaching Duo. But every time he tried to get up from the empty barrel where Duo sat him down, Rufus glared at him, saying "down, boy" with this stern voice that didn´t leave him any choice but to comply. Which annoyed him even more. He was no lap dog to be ordered around.  
  
And he was no invalid either. Okay, he did still feel dizzy when getting up. All right, and he did feel a bit unsteady on his feet too - he could admit this to himself at least. But there was still no reason for him to sit in the sun, wrapped tightly in a warm blanket. No, he was not sick. He was just... not feeling well.  
  
"If you don´t stop glaring at them like that someone might think that you´re jealous."  
  
Treize's voice that had sounded from above Heero, startled the Enforcer so much that he blurted out: "I´m not jealous!" But the flush that spread on his bruised face told another story.  
  
The Count laughed, then climbed down from the bridge and leaned against the stairs next to which Heero was seated comfortably. Treize crossed his arms over his chest, then looked down at the younger man with an amused expression on his face. "Well, you could really fool me."  
  
Heero tried to glare at him, but he had the suspicion that in his battered and bruised state and wrapped in the blanket he looked more pitiful than threatening. He still huffed indignantly and looked away since the amused smirk that settled on the aristocrat´s face only managed to cause him to redden even more.  
  
Treize turned his eyes to the captain of his personal guard who was showing Duo how to lay the long knives against his forearms and use them in defense. They were using the empty space that was left from the broken mast for practicing. It was obvious that Duo was a quick learner. Even though the Count had heard him protest loudly against any kind of violence, Rufus' insistence on the fact that this way the lifebearer could protect his family in time of need obviously managed to change his mind. And now, from the smooth and quick moves it was obvious that Duo wouldn´t be a half-bad fighter. With a little exercise and practice...  
  
Treize looked back at Heero, who was watching Duo with an annoyed but proud expression on his face. The dark bruises stood vividly on his face, the bandage still in place since the wound he received wouldn´t stop bleeding. "I don´t think I thanked you properly yet. You saved my life. If you hadn´t pushed me away when the mast fell..."  
  
Heero shot him a glance, then fidgeted in place uncomfortably. He had never received any thanks for doing his duty back in the village, and now he didn´t know what to do or say. He saved the Count´s life without thinking, his instincts taking over. In the end, he settled for a shrug and an indecipherable "hn" sound. "I think it was mutual. Rufus told me that you cut me out of the ropes before the mast could drag me off the ship."  
  
Now it was time for Treize to shrug. How could he not save his savior? Together they turned back to the practicing pair. Duo was now standing with his back to Rufus´ chest and slowly repeating the moves the larger man showed him. A slight frown settled on the lifebearer´s brows as he concentrated on his task.  
  
"He is blaming himself," Heero said softly after a moment of silence and nodded towards Rufus. "He thinks he failed his duty towards you."  
  
Treize shook his head and sighed. "Rufus is blaming himself for a lot of things that are not his fault."  
  
"Just like you?"  
  
The Count shot Heero a quick glance but the younger man´s eyes were still fixed on his mate. "I don´t know what you mean," he said cautiously.  
  
This time Heero did look at him, a knowing look in his blue eyes. "You´re blaiming yourself for Milliardo´s blindness," he said. "Mil told Duo. This may not be my business..." he trailed off as if waiting to see if Treize would jump in and tell him to keep out of their affairs. When the aristocrat stayed silent and actually seemed interested in what Heero might tell him, the Enforcer continued. "What happened to your mate was not your fault. And you should set it straight in your head before returning to him. He needs your help and not your pity, which is the only thing you´ll be able to give him if you don´t stop wallowing in self-pity. There is one thing you should realize - this isn´t about you. No matter how bad you feel, it´s much worse for him. Trust me, I know what it feels like." His voice was not condemning, but reasonable.  
  
Treize stared at Heero for a while, obviously not used to people who would talk to him so openly. Then he blinked and started to laugh. "Heero, this is probably the longest speech I´ve heard from you since I´ve met you."  
  
The younger man ducked his head and blushed hotly, throwing Treize a dark glare.  
  
When his laughter trailed off, Treize smiled genuinely at his companion. "But I thank you for your advice. I think you´re right. This isn´t about me and I should stop thinking in those terms."  
  
That was when the watch in the crow´s nest cried out: "El-One in sight!"  
  
------  
  
As soon as the call sounded, Duo dashed to the railing, the practice forgotten. Rufus opened his mouth to say something, but then just shook his head indulgently. He would never turn Duo into a well disciplined soldier.  
  
"El-One, that´s a weird name for a town," Duo said, as he leaned against the railing and squinted into the early afternoon sunlight to see the small speck on the horizon that was quickly growing larger.  
  
"Actually, the name of the ship that discovered this small peninsula was El I," Rufus explained as he sheathed his knives and nudged Duo to do the same before he lost the precious weapons or hurt himself or somebody else, "but that would be an even weirder name for a town, don´t you think? So, people changed to El-One. It really does look better on the maps."  
  
Duo sheathed his knives, then pulled the sleeves of his warm black shirt over the leather sheaths Rufus helped him attach to his forearms. "El I..." he muttered. "Who does actually think up the names of the ships anyway? I have never heard something so stupid."  
  
Rufus did his best to hide his smirk. "Actually, it´s the King´s privilege to name all the new ships."  
  
"Oh, no wonder then. A guy with the name Noventa XXXIV. can´t have any imagination!"  
  
This time Rufus did laugh out loud. "Well, I think you might be right."  
  
Duo turned to him and grinned.  
  
The soldier looked back at the town on the horizon. "The remains of the ship El I still lie scattered on the cliffs. The townspeople turned them into a sort of memorial place."  
  
"Now I´m not sure if I should be happy that we will harbor in this port. I mean, they named the town after a ship they wrecked while trying to cast anchor there. Should I be afraid?" Duo threw the taller man an amused glance.  
  
"I don´t think you need to worry," Rufus assured him. "Since the townspeople started to worship Nataku, the God-Bearer, no ships sank here. Actually, El-One is the first town along the coast where people worship Nataku and his son Shinigami. That´s why it would be better if you didn´t call your dog by his full name from now on. The people might get offended."  
  
"But he does resemble the warrior god," Treize said as he and Heero approached the pair at the railing. "At least in his fierceness. I think that was the reason why you gave him the name, am I right, Heero?"  
  
The Enforcer nodded, then stopped next to Duo and laid his arm around the lifebearer´s shoulders. It was as much a gesture of affection as an attempt to stay upright, since he was feeling a little dizzy again and the ship´s movement didn´t help his balance either.  
  
Duo leaned into his love´s embrace then looked at Rufus. "You know a lot about this town."  
  
The soldier nodded. "It´s my hometown. I was born here."  
  
The lifebearer beamed at him. "Really? Will we have enough time to meet your family?"  
  
A shadow fell over Rufus' face and he looked away. "They are all dead," he said in a soft voice.  
  
Duo lowered his eyes, his expression sobering. "Oh. I´m sorry, I didn´t..."  
  
The soldier shook his head. "You don´t need to apologize. It´s not your fault and besides, it happened a long time ago. Years ago."  
  
A grim silence settled on the small group. In an attempt to break the uncomfortable atmosphere, Duo pointed out into the distance at the small object on the water that caught his attention. "What a strange ship. It has no sails," he said.  
  
Everybody turned to where he was pointing. On the calm surface of the sea, a ship was heading in their direction. It had no masts and the hull of the ship was bound with high polished copper that was glistening in the sunlight. Like the legs of a centipede, there were oars sticking out of the hull of the ship, the device that was enabling the ship to move forward.  
  
"A galley!" Rufus sneered, his relaxed posture stiffening.  
  
"A galley?" Duo turned to the soldier, but the taller man´s eyes were fixed on the approaching ship. He was radiating hatred.  
  
"Slavers, Duo," Treize explained quietly, watching the captain of his personal guard with a worried and sorrowful gaze.  
  
Before Duo could say anything, Heero frowned darkly, his voice growing cold. "I thought they weren´t allowed this far north."  
  
The Count sighed. "Most slavers come from the south, from the deserts. It´s their livelihood and they don´t see anything bad or disturbing in enslaving other people. The King is trying to stop the slave trade but it´s complicated."  
  
"Right!" Rufus spat into the water and glared at the Count. He turned on his heel and crossed the distance to the door leading under the deck where he then disappeared.  
  
Treize watched him go with a sad expression on his face.  
  
Now it was time for Duo to frown. "How can it be complicated? He is the King, right? He could simply forbid the slave trade and people would have to obey him, wouldn't they?"  
  
The aristocrat leaned against the railing and watched the ship come closer. They could now hear the regular thumping sound of a drum. "As I said, the slavers come from the south. If the King simply forbade the slave trade, it would start a war with the desert clans. You can´t imagine how horrendous a civil war can be, Duo. It would leave the traders free hand and they could capture and sell anybody they wanted. Don´t fool yourself into believing that people wouldn´t be interested in a cheap workforce even if it came from their own brothers. People are not so altruistic." He sighed. "But now the King has the control over the slave trade in his hands. He has already forbidden enslaving children and castrating the captives. I know that these are only small changes, but it´s all he can do at this moment."  
  
Duo still didn´t like it though. "But what about the slaves? Their lives must be horror on earth."  
  
"Unfortunately, you´re right. They do suffer a lot. But look at the whole thing from the other side."  
  
"There is an ´other side´?" Heero asked, his voice venomous. He had lived through his own sort of enslavement when he was a child, forced into the role of Enforcer, to serve the village until he got killed because that was the way all the Enforcers died. In the end, all of them met someone - or something - who was better than them.  
  
Treize looked at him, his expression grim. "Believe it or not, there is. The slaves work for the Empire too. They are doing the work nobody is willing to take on themselves. They build roads, work in the mines... the Empire would collapse without them. It´s not ready for such a change. And what would happen with the people should they get released? They would win back their freedom but they would have nothing - no money, no way to return home... Can you imagine thousands of people without hope, only the desire for revenge? They would start a slaughter..."  
  
Heero turned away. He didn´t know what to say to that because unfortunately - and even though he didn´t like it at all - he understood Treize´s reasoning. He just really hoped that he would never have to have anything in common with those abhorrent people.  
  
The galley was now passing their ship, there were no shouts of ´ahoy´ from the Peacecraft sailors though, since everybody despised the desert people and what they stood for. The cracking of the overseer´s whip, the groaning of the oars and the moans of the slaves reached their ears and they all shuddered in horror. Nobody dared to breathe until they left the slavers´ galley well behind.  
  
TBC

Author´s notes: Err, sorry about the gloomy tone with which this chappie ended but I really needed to introduce the slavers and this seemed the right place to do so. You don´t have to worry though, they won´t play any important part in this story nor do I have any intentions to turn this story into a master/slave kinda fic. But the existence of slaves is important for the future Quatre-plot and it will allow me to bring back Wufei and Solo too.


	10. Chapter 9

**Due South - part 9****  
**  
by KatiKat  
  
"I will not ride in this!" Heero protested loudly as he, supported by Duo, walked down the wooden pier towards an open carriage where Treize was helping Milliardo sit down. He would have even dug his heels into the wooden planks if it helped, but Duo kept pushing him forward regardless of his protests.  
  
"Yes, you will," Duo answered sweetly. Now that the tables had turned and Heero was the patient, it was time for the lifebearer to play the mother hen. "You´re hurt and not up to riding a horse yet."  
  
Heero glared at him, then growled. "I´m well enough."  
  
"Right." Duo´s voice was dripping with sarcasm. "And when you fall off, will you allow me to scrape you from the ground?" When Heero continued to glare at him, the long-haired young man sighed. "Be reasonable. You can´t take ten steps without feeling dizzy and lightheaded. I know that it will probably hurt your pride as a Sire, but you will ride in the carriage."  
  
They arrived at the carriage, a light vehicle for two people, with one white horse harnessed up in front of it and Rufus sitting on the rack, reins in his hand - Treize would not entrust Milliardo´s safety to anybody else. Mil was already seated, Treize helping him pull a warm black and white blanket over his knees. Even though it was a relatively warm early afternoon, it was still winter and the pavement was covered in snow.  
  
"There are only two seats," Heero noticed.  
  
"So?" Duo asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Where will you sit?"  
  
The lifebearer chuckled. "I will ride the horse, Heero. You probably won't believe it, but I do know how to ride a horse. Solo taught me."  
  
The Enforcer frowned. "But-"  
  
"No buts. Get in."  
  
Heero blinked. He had never heard Duo use this tone on anybody. It was the ´no nonsense, do what I say because I´m getting quite annoyed here and if you do not do it, I swear I will kick your butt´ voice Heero used when he tried to convey that he was getting angry. He decided that it was useless to argue.  
  
With Duo´s help, Heero climbed into the carriage and sat down. Trowa, who was placing Zechs in Milliardo´s arms, snickered and the Enforcer glared at him. The healer grinned.  
  
When Duo started to fuss over Heero, covered him with the warm blanket and fluffed the pillow behind his back with a smile, Heero frowned at him. "You are enjoying this way too much," he growled.  
  
"I am, huh?" The lifebearer grinned and exchanged a wink with Trowa which caused Heero to frown even more.  
  
When the captain arrived at their carriage, everybody turned to him but it was Treize, already seated on a beautiful bay, who addressed him. "So? How long does the dock master think it´ll take to repair the ship?" he asked, resting his hands on the pommel of his saddle.  
  
"Four days," the captain answered, quite unhappy about the information.  
  
"He has two," Treize said, his voice stern. "I don´t care how much it will cost. He can charge it to the Empire. We have to catch up with the King´s fleet as soon as possible."  
  
The captain nodded. "I will tell him. But he will not be happy to hear it."  
  
Treize shrugged. "We are not here to make him happy. Should he have any objections, remind him who I am. Should you need to get in touch with me, you´ll find us at the chief magistrate´s residence." When the captain disappeared, the Count turned to his companions and smiled. "Sometimes it´s rather useful to be the First General."  
  
Duo gracefully mounted the mare Trowa was holding for him, and the small procession headed slowly for the town.  
  
-----  
  
Heero crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at everything and everybody. Their carriage was climbing the steep and narrow streets towards the chief magistrate´s residence. Treize's personal guard followed the carriage and the sounds of hooves echoed off the walls, making conversation impossible. Heero was glad since he wouldn´t have known what to say anyway.  
  
Duo was riding in front together with Treize and Trowa since the streets were so narrow that he couldn´t ride next to Heero. Even though the Enforcer knew it, it still irritated him. He wanted Duo to ride by his side. He felt so possessive of Duo that it surprised him.  
  
The street turned sharply to the the right. Beyond the turn, the buildings on the right side disappeared, so that the road bordered on a steep slope. Rufus guided the horse with a sure hand though, so Heero didn´t worry. He looked to the right and had to admit that the view was beautiful. The port and the open sea that glistened in the setting sun looked so close that he had the feeling he could actually touch it.  
  
"The view is beautiful, isn´t it?" Milliardo asked. Heero glanced at him sharply and the blond man smiled. "No, I´m stil blind. But I have visited this town before and there is only one road that leads towards the chief magistrate´s house."  
  
Heero grunted something that might have sounded like an agreement then fixed his eyes on his love´s back.  
  
"You know, if you want to bond with Duo, this is the best opportunity," said Mil, breaking the silence that settled over them. Now that they left the narrow streets behind, the horses didn´t make such noise anymore.  
  
The Enforcer looked at the blond man again and kept silent for a moment. But then he spoke. "But I don´t know this town and we will only be here two days anyway..."  
  
Mil smiled. "It doesn´t take much time to set up the ceremony. You just have to find a priest willing to bond you without asking too many questions. But I´m sure that Rufus could help you, am I right?" he raised his voice a little, so that their driver would hear him too.  
  
Rufus glanced over his shoulder and smiled. "Yes, my lord."  
  
Smiling too, Milliardo leaned closer to Heero. "Treize and I bonded here. Thanks to Rufus."  
  
Heero blinked and looked at his companion. The man seemed full of surprises.  
  
As if feeling the Enforcer´s gaze on him, the blond man chuckled. "Well, lets just say that our bonding ceremony was rather unconventional too." Then he straightened, rocking the child in his arms gently. "But it was still beautiful. What was the name of the priest, Rufus?"  
  
"Old Morska, my lord. He is a kind man. It is not so common in priests these days," the large man answered over his shoulder. "He has been always understanding towards... unconventional couples," he added with a smile.  
  
Milliardo nodded, his blind eyes only half open. "Yes, he has..."  
  
Feeling that there was a story hidden behind this short word exchange, a story he didn´t know anything about and wasn´t sure if he wanted to know anything, Heero felt uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, and to change the topic of their conversation, he asked: "Can I see the temple where old Morska serves from here?" He wasn´t actually that interested in seeing it, but anything was better than the tension that seemed to seep into Mil´s shoulders.  
  
Rufus looked to the right, then took the reigns in his left hand and pointed out. "It´s the small white building with the copper roof."  
  
Heero stretched his neck to look for it. And he found it. The temple was rather small, but neat and well kept. It was hidden among other, taller and more elaborate buildings near the docks. Seeing the temple for the first time, it struck Heero that maybe getting bonded to Duo in this town wasn´t such a bad idea after all.  
  
"Morska is the priest of Nataku, the God-Bearer. He never refuses any petitioners," Rufus added, taking the reigns in both hands again.  
  
"You seem to know a lot about him," Heero said, leaning back again.  
  
The large man was quiet for a moment and when he finally spoke, his voice sounded odd and distant. "I bonded in his temple."  
  
Heero raised his eyebrows. "You have a mate? I didn´t..."  
  
"No, I do not," Rufus interrupted him, his voice cold, but with a painful note to it. "Not anymore...."  
  
"Oh." The Enforcer didn´t know what to say. Coming close to losing his love too, he knew that no words can help. And so he draped the blanket more tightly around himself and stayed silent.  
  
-----  
  
"What is it?" Treize asked as Trowa glanced at him sideways for the umpteenth time since they set out. Now that the road broadened, leading up to the chief magistrate´s residence, Duo fell back, leaving the Count and the healer alone. They could hear him chat merrily with the men sitting in the carriage behind them.  
  
"Nothing," Trowa answered, turning his head back to look at the road that twisted upwards in front of them.  
  
The aristocrat raised one eyebrow and waited patiently.  
  
Finally, Trowa gave in. "I noticed that you almost don´t touch your son. You rarely take him in your arms... it just seems... odd." The healer shrugged.  
  
Treize sighed. "I love my son, Trowa, never doubt that, but..." He paused, then took another deep breath and looked to the right where the wide, sunlit ocean spread to the horizon. "I was bonded before, you know? My mate and our little son died. It happened years ago, shortly after Mil´s Coming of Age ceremony."  
  
"You don´t have to tell me," Trowa said quietly when the Count fell silent. He hadn´t known and wasn´t sure how he felt about intruding upon such private matters of one of the most powerful men in the Empire. From his own experience, he knew how dangerous it could be to stumble across things that high society wanted to keep hidden. The most dangerous nobles were the ones who felt threatened.  
  
Treize shook his head. "It´s no secret," he assured the healer as if reading his mind. "I married the son of a powerful house. I had strong feelings for him and I loved our child." His voice grew distant and he gripped the reins in his hand more tightly. "I was out with the army, fighting the rebels in the southern deserts when it happened. Our house was burnt to ash... they died in the fire. Even now, I don´t know if it was an accident or if someone killed them. The fire was so hot that it destroyed all the evidence."  
  
"You feel guilty about what happened," Trowa said, looking straight ahead.  
  
"I did, for a long time. I still do, since I can´t be sure that it wasn´t my fault. We do not know what happened." Treize paused again and for a moment he watched the residence come into sight. "But then Milliardo became a part of my life and I felt whole again. I have never loved anybody so much. Not my first mate nor our child... and not even Zechs," he admitted. "Mil is the other half of my soul and I would sacrifice anything... anything... for him. I do love Zechs, after all, he is my son... but for me, Milliardo comes first." He shook his head. "Maybe it sounds harsh to you, but that is how I feel. I was happy when our child was born, but should I choose who of the two of them should survive..." he looked at Trowa, who was now watching him, "I know whom I would choose, even though it pains me."  
  
Trowa watched the General for a moment. There was a calm, confident look in the man´s eyes. Treize knew who he was and what he wanted, and he didn´t feel the least bit unsure about the choices he had made and would make. The Count was a dangerous man. Trowa made a mental note never to cross his path.  
  
-----  
  
When they arrived at the residence, there was a short, plump man waiting for them on the stairs. The chief magistrate was a cheerful, round man with red cheeks and a round face. He seemed genuinely happy to see the Count and his mate again. He fluttered around them like a colorful butterfly - and he really looked like it in his green, yellow, red and blue clothes. He assured the rather large party that they were more than welcome to stay at his house and bemoaned the fact that they needed to leave again so soon.  
  
When Trowa took Zechs in his arms so that Treize could help his mate get out of the carriage and the mass of horses, soldiers and grooms separated him from Duo, Heero took the chance and approached Rufus, who was about to get down from the driver's seat. The large man turned to Heero, who was still sitting in the carriage after having earned himself a dark glare from Duo when he tried to get out without his help.  
  
"What is it, Heero?" Rufus asked, since the Enforcer seemed hesitant.  
  
"Could you... I mean, I wanted to ask you..." To his complete embarassment, Heero felt his cheeks redden. Trying to overcome the uncomfortable feeling he glared at Rufus, worked his mouth once, then twice, opening and closing it like a fish out of water.  
  
The Captain smiled. "I will go and ask old Morska if he could bond you and Duo." When Heero blinked at him in surprise, Rufus´ smile blossomed into a grin. "That is what you wanted to ask me, isn´t it?" When Heero nodded, the soldier continued. "I will ask the General for allowance to leave, and then I will head to the temple."  
  
Heero sighed in relief. He didn´t know how to ask. He was getting bonded for the first time after all. He had only a general idea about what went on in such a ceremony. He should probably ask someone what he should do and when.  
  
"Thank you, Rufus," Heero thanked the taler man softly.  
  
The Captain seemed to hear him even over the roar of horses and raised voices of the personal guard. He waved at Heero to tell him that he didn´t need to thank him, then jumped down from the carriage and disappeared into the crowd.  
  
And then Duo was there, and he was helping Heero out of the carriage too, and for another half an hour or more they were drowned in the usual chaos such a large party brought along when taking up residence somewhere.  
  
-----  
  
It wasn´t until after they ate dinner, that they won back their peace and quiet again. As they were climbing the stairs to their bedrooms on the second floor, Heero stopped on the landing, squeezing Duo´s hand. The long-haired lifebearer turned to his love with one eyebrow raised.  
  
"Are you all right, Heero?" Duo asked, wrinkling his forehead in worry and letting the others, accompanied by the chief magistrate, disappear around a turn, leading to a hallway where their bedrooms were situated.  
  
Heero waited until the last of their friends disappeared from sight and they were left alone. "I wanted to ask you something," the Enforcer said softly. "Would you bond with me? Here, in El-One, I mean." When Duo´s eyes grew large in surprise, Heero continued quickly. "I was told that Milliardo and the Count bonded here and Rufus seems to know a priest of Nataku who does not ask a lot of questions. I... I mean I know that this is probably not what you had in mind when I asked you to bond with me officially, but..."  
  
Duo smiled, lifted one hand and pressed his forefinger to Heero´s lips. "I don´t need a big ceremony with a lot of guests. I will be happy that our closest friends will be there. Or even just the two of us." The lifebearer´s smile grew larger. "That means yes. I will bond with you tomorrow. If Rufus will take care of things, that is."  
  
The Enforcer smiled and sighed in relief at the same time. He wasn´t sure what Duo would think about such an impromptu and hasty bonding ceremony. He would have preferred to offer Duo something memorable, but the practical part of him was telling him to use this opportunity. Who knew what could happen in the future? And with their bad luck...  
  
"But I think we have one problem, Heero," Duo said, tilting his head to the side and furrowing his brows.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"What does actually happen during an official bonding ceremony in the God-Bearer´s temple?"  
  
Heero raised his eyebrows. He had no idea.  
  
-----  
  
"Holy one," Rufus said softly as he knelt on the floor of the small, but clean and pleasing temple.  
  
The small, white-haired man turned from the altar where he was lighting the candles. He squinted in the dimness of the temple, then his face lit up with a genuine happy expression. "Rufus, my boy!" he exclaimed then waved at the large man. "Get up from the floor. I know how hard it is and I don´t deserve to be knelt in front of. I´m just a humble servant of our Holy Nataku."  
  
Rufus smiled and stood up, then closed the distance between them and let himself be squeezed in surprisingly strong arms. Old Morska didn´t even reach to his shoulders, but he was no frail old man.  
  
"Master Morska, I´m so happy to see you well."  
  
"Me too, my boy, me too!" the old man assured him, clapping him on the back, then stepping back to look at the Captain. "What brings you here? I don´t think you´ve come to pray."  
  
Rufus shook his head. He stopped believing in gods a long time ago. "I´ve come to ask for your help, Master."  
  
"Oh, another of your unconventional couples, then?" Morska chuckled, clasping his hands behind his back.  
  
"Yes," the Captain nodded. "I have two friends with a rather... unusual story. They are already bonded but they did so in the North where nothing is done quite as officially as here, farther in the South. They fear that the lack of proper ceremony with official entry about their bonding in the temple books might get them in trouble in the City. And I think they are right."  
  
The old man nodded slowly. "I don´t think there will be time to prepare them for the bond properly, am I right?" he said with a sigh, but his eyes were dancing merrily. If there would have been time, Rufus wouldn´t have come to him.  
  
Rufus smiled and shook his head. "I´m afraid not. We set out to sea in two days."  
  
Nodding again, the man cocked his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows in deep thoughts. "Bring them here tomorrow just before the sun sets. By that time I will be able to get all the fake and hypocrite prayers out of the temple after the evening mass."  
  
The Captain grinned. He always loved the man´s attitude. The old priest took one look at a person and knew everything about them. That´s how he knew that a good two thirds of the petitioners who came to the temple didn´t do so out of real faith in Nataku. "Very well, Master. They are very young and deserve all the happiness in the world," he added, thinking about what Heero and Duo had been through already.  
  
"And what about your happiness, my boy?" the priest asked softly, the lightheartedness gone from his voice. A troubled look shadowed his wrinkled face.  
  
Rufus looked away. He didn´t want to talk about himself.  
  
But the priest continued anyway, a concerned tone filling his voice. "Have you heard anything about Nariem?"  
  
Rufus shook his head, not able to voice an answer. He hadn´t heard anything about his mate since the slavers dragged him away all those years ago. He had been looking for him for ten years before giving up any hope of finding him ever again. But even now he couldn´t resist and asked about the beautiful dark-haired man with tan skin and large black eyes. Nariem wasn´t an easy one to forget. Who knew where the lifebearer ended up? With the dark and foreign beauty of the people from the South... Rufus shuddered. He knew where Bearers like Nariem went to after being sold into slavery.  
  
The old priest reached out one hand toward the younger man. "Rufus..."  
  
The soldier stepped out of reach and cleared his throat. "I will bring them tomorrow, just before sunset then." With that he turned around and left the temple and his unwanted memories quickly, letting the sad Morska behind.  
  
-----  
  
"What?" Duo shouted, jumping to his feet. "You want me to do what where??"  
  
Milliardo grinned and turned his head in the direction of Duo´s voice. "It´s a tradition. All the couples make love in the temple for the first time. The god needs to take witness after all."  
  
When the braided young man huffed and grunted, muttering something under his breath, Milliardo grinned even bigger. Treize hid his smile behind a glass of wine and Trowa pretended to be busy tending the child. They were all sitting in a small sitting room from which the doors led to two bedrooms. The larger one occupied the aristocratic family, the smaller one by the three friends. When Heero and Duo told their companions about their bonding ceremony the next day and admitted they had no idea what to actually do in the temple, Milliardo offered to explain everything. So they sat down in the sitting room, then seeing Duo jump to his feet just minutes after Mil began.  
  
"No way," the braided lifebearer said, determination clear in his voice. "I´m not gonna make love to Heero in front of all of you - no offense."  
  
"None taken," assured Treize, who decided that it was time to actually explain it clearly to the young and now distraught couple. Milliardo was having a lot fun confusing the soon-to-be-bonded, but from the look on Heero´s face, the Count recognized that the young man was getting rather nervous and worried. "You won´t make love in front of us," he assured them. "We will witness the bonding vow, that´s all. Then the priest will take you to the Bonding room. There you will make love. In front of nobody but Nataku himself. He will witness the Bond and bless it. When you finish, the ceremony will be over."  
  
Both Heero and Duo blushed at the prospect of having to make love when ordered. Neither of them knew how well this would go.  
  
"And is there... err... you know... a time limit or something?" Heero couldn´t believe that he was asking such a thing and blushed even deeper.  
  
Treize smiled at them assuringly. "Don´t worry, Heero. This is not a performance of any sort. You take as long as you need. Me and Mil," he took his mate by the hand, "had spent the whole night there. It isn´t like it had been in the darker times where the priest had to check if the Bearer was deflowered properly."  
  
Duo moaned at the idea of some strange man doing that to him and slumped down on the couch next to Heero, who lay one arm around his shoulders automatically. "Thank Nataku for small favors," he mumbled into Heero´s shoulder.  
  
The other three men chuckled.  
  
-----  
  
The man stood in the shadows of the dark garden, hiding from the sight of the passing guards in the underbrush. When the men disappeared down the gravel path, he looked up at the large house again.

Second floor, the window by the balcony... a sitting room he had been told. He watched carefully, as the light separated into two smaller ones. The sitting room went dark and the windows of the bedrooms on both sides of the room in the middle lit up... It took three passings of the guards before the first, then the second one flickered and went dark as if some large beast closed its eyes for the night.  
  
Tomorrow... tomorrow night he would return and fulfill his task...  
  
TBC


	11. Chapter 10

Since I´m posting this story on (among other sites), I left out the lemon scene between Heero and Duo and will write it down in a separate side story. 

Heh, I´m not dead yet. I´ve just been very very busy. Being an university student is really tiresome sometimes . 

Due South – part 10 

by KatiKat

It was the yell and the sound of dishes shattering on the ground that woke Heero up. He sat up in the bed abruptly and reached automatically for the dagger he had hidden under the pillow. Before he could jump out of the bed though, he had to wait for the room to stop spinning around him.  
  
When it finally stopped, he realized that it was just after dawn and the sun was peeking into their room through the opened curtains. He heard the rustle of bed covers to his left and turned around to see Trowa, dressed in warm sleeping pants, slide out of his bed quietly, motioning to Heero that he would go and see what was going on.  
  
Not wanting to let his friend go alone, Heero lowered his legs over the edge of the bed he was sharing with Duo. The braided young man was probably the only one in the large mansion whom the loud scream and crashing sound didn´t wake up, for he was happily slumbering, curled up in the place Heero just abandoned. The Enforcer smiled, touching the tousled bangs of his soon-to-be official mate´s, then got up and covered him with the warm blanket.  
  
Heero walked quietly to the door Trowa left open, dagger poised and ready in his hand. When he stepped into the sitting room, he noticed that the door leading to Treize and Mil´s room stood now open, the brownhaired aristocrat clad in a silk robe standing in the door with an unsheathed sword in his hand. Heero could hear Mil´s quiet voice from behind him, asking about what was going on.  
  
Heero and Treize nodded to each other and the Enforcer then stepped closer to Trowa where he stopped by the unmade couch in the middle of the sitting room, where Rufus was keeping watch through the night. The tall captain was now standing by the door, armed too, and was opening it carefully.  
  
Suddenly, the door jerked open and before any one of them could react, a happy Shinigami ran in, bouncing in place, eyes sparkling, tongue flapping. Everybody looked at him in surprise.  
  
Then Heero glared at him darkly. "Where were you the whole night, you beast?!" he snapped at him quietly, not wanting to wake Duo up. He glared even more fiercely when he heard the voice of a distraught maid from the corridor outside their rooms. The dog must have scared the hell out of her. And no wonder, with his size and devilish looks.  
  
But Shinigami just wagged his tail and sat down on the carpeted floor in front of Heero.  
  
"I think he just got laid," Trowa deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
Treize and Rufus snickered and Heero blinked in surprise.  
  
"Did you?" Heero asked directly, but then raised his hand and waved it. "Actually, I don´t want to know." He gifted the dog with another dark glare.  
  
Treize cleared his throat and sheathed his sword. "Well, now that the commotion is cleared up, I think we should return to our respective beds. We don´t have to get up for a while and I don´t think that our pajamas are the right attire for a tea party." With that he nodded to them, returned to his room and closed the door.  
  
Trowa chuckled quietly, shook his head and returned to their room too. When Shini started after him, Heero raised his hand.  
  
"Nuh, uh!" he stopped the dog. "You are staying here. And don´t give me that puppy dog look, it doesn´t work on me. You are a hunting dog, not a lap dog. Stay!" he ordered, turned around and with one last glare he disappeared in their bedroom, closing the door tightly.  
  
Shini whined, lowering his head sadly.  
  
Rufus laughed, closed the door and returned to the couch. He laid his sword on the small table and sat down on the soft cushions. "You shouldn´t have run," he admonished the animal, then lay down, covering himself with a blanket. "Bad dogs must be punished, you know that."  
  
Seeing the soldier close his eyes, Shinigami slunk to the door to his master´s bedroom and was about to scratch on it when the tall figure on the cough spoke: "I see you."  
  
Whining softly, the dog lay on the ground, muzzle on his forepaws, and released a deep sigh. Humans. They wouldn´t even let him have a little fun.  
  
-----  
  
"I´m nervous," Duo admitted quietly as he helped Milliardo walk down the stairs. Actually, he didn´t like the fact that he let Heero go on his own but he really needed to talk to another lifebearer, a bonded one, in whom he could confide.  
  
Hand on the rail, Milliardo smiled. "Why? You´re already mates, just making it official now."  
  
Duo huffed. "I´m not nervous about the ceremony. Okay, I am, but that´s not my main concern," he added. "It´s just that... me and Heero... we never... made love before."  
  
"Duo, don´t take what I say now the wrong way but... you´re not a blushing virgin anymore. You know that there is nothing to worry about..."  
  
The braided man frowned. "That´s the problem. I´m not a virgin anymore and..."  
  
The blond man sighed. "Duo, please, you know that Heero doesn´t mind that he won´t be your first. Don´t go borrowing trouble. And besides," he added with a smile again, "it´s always better when at least one of the lovers has some experience, otherwise the lovemaking can turn into an embarassing fumble of virgins which might be funny afterwards, but in that moment it´s just weird."  
  
At that moment Trowa walked past them, carrying little Zechs in his arms. As he was passing Duo, he whispered: "Did you take the thing I gave you?"  
  
The braided lifebearer blushed to the roots of his hair and nodded quickly. Trowa winked at him then continued down the stairs, patting the sleeping child he had laid against his chest on his back.  
  
"What was he talking about?" Milliardo asked curiously as they reached the base of the stairs.  
  
Duo blushed even deeper. "Err, that is... uh... the preser... some sort of protection," he answered very softly.  
  
"Oh, you mean a preservative?" the blond man asked with raised eyebrows heedless of the shushing sounds Duo was making at him. "It´s a good thing. Treize suggested using them when I am well enough to make love again."  
  
Helping the taller man through the entrance door Duo blinked. "He did?" He still couldn´t get used to the idea of having something like that in him.  
  
Mil nodded, walking carefully down the steps leading down the small terrace of the mansion. "He asked around a bit and discovered that it´s much safer for the Bearer then the potion the charlatans who call themselves healers sell in the towns."  
  
Duo blinked again. He couldn´t wrap his mind around the picture of Count Treize Khushrenada, the First General of His Majesty, discussing such intimate things with anybody.  
  
"As you probably noticed," Milliardo continued, "he is rather protective of me." He smiled when Duo snorted. Protective was an understatement.  
  
In an amiable conversation, they reached the coach that was waiting for them. This time there was room enough for everybody. Treize stated that since the bonding ceremony was rather rushed, they could at least arrive properly. And so he hired a large coach where everybody fit and took only a few guards as a sort of ceremonial escort. Rufus sat on the driver's seat of course.  
  
Duo helped Milliardo settle in since Treize was discussing something with the ship´s captain and the chief magistrate, then looked around, trying to find Heero.  
  
-----  
  
"I´m nervous," Heero admitted to his best friend, shifting from one foot to another and wringing his hands. This was such un-Heero-like behavior that Trowa had to smile.  
  
Shifting the child in his arms, Trowa patted Heero on the shoulder. "There is nothing to be nervous about. It´s not likely that Duo would run from you so..."  
  
The Enforcer glared at his friend, then cleared his throat. "You know that that´s not what I´m worried about!" he hissed.  
  
Trowa smiled. "I know. It´s the sex, right?"  
  
Heero glared again. "Don´t make it sound so dirty!"  
  
"Heero, you don´t have to worry. I´m sure that Duo will know what to do," Trowa tried to assure his friend.  
  
"That´s just it. It should be me who knows all about making love," Heero said.  
  
The healer raised his eyebrows. "I beg your pardon? And can you tell me where you got this idea from?"  
  
"I´m the Sire after all. I don´t mind at all that Duo is not a virgin, but I would prefer not to be one either. I would prefer to know something more about sex. It should be the Sires who should take the lead and give pleasure and..."  
  
Trowa rolled his eyes. "Gods, Heero. Why? I know that that´s the way the traditionalists see it and that there are a lot of them in our society but it´s so not true. Do you know where I lost my virginity? In a brothel. A luxurious one but still a brothel." Heedless of Heero's eyes widening, he continued: "It was a one-night fling and I never saw the Bearer again and even though it was hot, I would have still preferred for it to be a true love. There was one thing he taught me though - there is no difference between Sires and Bearers, especially not in bed. And just because you´re a Sire, it doesn´t have to mean you have to be on top all the time."  
  
This time it looked like Heero´s eyes would pop out of his head. He opened his mouth, then closed it and opened it again. "What?"  
  
Trowa couldn´t help but snicker. "Heero, if you didn´t realize it until now, lifebearers and Sires have a very similar physiology."  
  
"You mean... you have... you let.. you..." Heero stammered. He never stammered, but his friend´s confession...  
  
"Yeah, why not? It´s a rather pleasurable experience. And it doesn´t matter if you are top or bottom or if you are in bed with a Sire or a Bearer - as long as you are enjoying it."  
  
Heero frowned and lowered his eyes. His friend gave him a lot to think about.  
  
-----  
  
"Before we start with the ceremony, I have to ask if you´re entering this bond of your own free will," Morska said, as he stepped closer to the young pair, kneeling on the first step from the top of the stone stairs, leading to the altar with the statue of the God-Bearer Nataku himself. The old priest was dressed in his finest white garment and there was a soft, gentle smile on his lips.  
  
"Of course we do," Duo blurted out for himself and Heero, then blushed as the priest and the small audience of his friends chuckled. When Heero squeezed his hand though, Duo looked at him and smiled. "Of course we do," he repeated silently.  
  
"Good." The priest nodded. "I´m sure everybody will be happy to hear that since the... situation we have here is rather... hm... unorthodox... we will skip the part where I should preach about chastity and similar things." The young people laughed again and Morska rewarded them with a grin of his own. "So, we will step now to the main - and shortest - part." He winked at the couple and Heero and Duo both blushed since they knew what exactly would follow this "shortest" part. "Who is the patron of this young couple?"  
  
Treize stepped forward. "I am," he said.  
  
"Good," Morska nodded aprovingly. "The claiming necklace, please." He reached his hand toward Treize.  
  
Treize lifted his arm and let the silver pendant on its chain slip into the priest´s hand. Morska lifted Heero´s and Duo´s clasped hands and wrapped the necklace around them. "Joined and bonded, for now and forever."  
  
"Now and forever," Heero and Duo murmured together as Mil and Treize instructed them to do during the ride in the coach.  
  
"Now and forever," added Trowa, Treize and Mil.  
  
Morska turned to the altar and lifted two clay goblets. In the first one there was a red fluid, in the second one a clear one, looking like water. "The blood of Nataku, to bless your bond with many children and little pain..." He poured the fluid over their clasped hands, the small red rivulets splashing on the stone steps. "The tears of Nataku, to bless your bond with strength and happiness..." He poured the clear fluid over their hands, then raised the still half-full goblets in the air. "The god himself had bled for you and cried for you. When you find yourself crying and bleeding for the love you share, think about this moment. Nataku watches over you and will guide your steps. To the praise of Nataku."  
  
"To the praise of Nataku," Heero and Duo murmured again, their friends repeating their words in silent, hushed tones too.  
  
Morska stepped closer to the young couple and let first Heero, then Duo drink from the goblets - Heero drank the clear fluid, Duo the red one. When the goblets were empty, Morska smashed them on the stone floor in front of the altar. The priest then bent down and took two of the shards in his hand and handed them to Treize, who stepped forward with a clean piece of cloth in his hand, into which he carefully wrapped them. They would serve as a reminder and stand witness to the ceremony of bonding.  
  
"Now stand up, bonded ones," Morska said as he turned to the young mates again. He waited until they got to their feet, then continued. "Everything in human life has two sides - the inner and the outer, the spiritual and the physical, soul and body... Your souls are bonded now, their joining blessed by the God. To seal the bond not only do the souls have to meet and join, but the bodies too... As Nataku has wished and ordered, the most sacred act between two lovers must be performed in private." He swept his arms around. "Let us accompany the bonded ones to the place where they will fulfill the bond that will bind them for eternity..."  
  
Morska turned around and taking long, ceremonial steps, he headed for the back of the temple where the bonding chamber was hidden behind a flowing gold curtain. Duo and Heero followed him, hand in hand, cheeks flushed, eyes overly bright. It looked like they forgot the world around them, and even if it stopped turning, they wouldn´t have noticed. The need to fulfill the bond swept all other thoughts of theirs aside...  
  
When Treize joined his mate, offering him a hand to help him climb the steps, follow the others and witness the "laying" as the final part of the ceremony, Milliardo leaned close to the Count and whispered in his ear: "Do you think we should have told them about the aphrodisiac in the goblets?" His voice was innocent, but there was an underlying tone of mischief in it.  
  
Treize grinned openly and patted Mil´s hand. "Nah, they didn´t need to know everything. Life is full of surprises after all."  
  
-----  
  
Milliardo wasn´t sure what woke him up. Even though it was useless, he opened his eyes and squinted in the darkness that surrounded him. He and Treize were lying naked in their bed, Treize on his back, Milliardo with his cheek on his mate´s chest. The blond lifebearer smiled and pressed himself closer to Treize. That was what heaven must felt like.  
  
After Treize, as the patron of the two mates, signed the temple´s chronicle and Mil received a blessing from the priest, who seemed rather distressed about everything they had to go through after bonding, they left Trowa, Shini and Rufus at the temple to guard the sleep and... other activities of Heero and Duo, and accompanied by the few guards they took with them, they headed back to the mansion.  
  
When they arrived, they asked for their dinner to be brought up to their rooms, wanting some privacy. They almost forgot how it felt to be completely alone, and so they wished to enjoy it to the fullest. After they laid their sleeping son to bed and spent half of the evening over a quiet candlelight dinner, they cuddled together. Milliardo still wasn´t fit enough to make love, but even the physical contact, undisturbed by clothes, felt like salvation.  
  
Mil sighed silently and would have almost drifted back to sleep when... His eyes snapped open. There it was again. It was a silent sound, like a cat walking over a thick carpet. It was more a motion of the air than an actual sound. Shivers ran up his spine. With a sudden clarity, he was sure that there was someone in their room. Someone who had no business being there...  
  
Suddenly, the silence of the room was broken by a clear swishing sound of a metal object flying through the air near their bed. Waiting no longer, Milliardo pushed Treize sharply away from himself. With a surprised gasp, the Count tumbled to the floor while Milliardo rolled from the sheets on the other side of the bed, landing on the thick carpet with a soft thud.  
  
A second later, a sharp blade cut through the pillows on which they were sleeping quietly only the blink of an eye before.  
  
TBC


	12. Chapter 11

**Due South - part 11**

by KatiKat

Treize rolled to the side as the sword swung above him and hit the thick carpet just inches away from his shoulder. He snatched his sword that he left propped against the night table and swung it to rid the blade of its sheath. Heedless of his nude state, he turned around to face his attacker. The black clad figure raised its sword and lunged for him. He sidestepped and brought his blade upwards. The swords clashed together with a loud metallic sound. Zechs started to cry in his crib.

The Count didn´t see much in the darkness of the room, the crescent moon the only source of light. He decided to rely on his instincts to guide him. He pushed the attacker away from himself, then slashed at his legs. The intruder retreated a step, then brought the sword down on the General from above and to the side. Treize dropped low and side-stepped, the attacker´s sword swishing through the empty air.

Above their harsh panting and the cries of his child, Treize could hear Milliardo scramble to his feet. He knew that Mil was wise enough not to interfere in their fight. The only reasonable thing to do in the blond man´s blind state was to go for help. Treize was confident that he could take down the attacker, but even during the brief encounter, he recognized the intruder was no amateur. And it was always difficult to fight when you had someone to protect.

Clash together, side-step, swing the blade, crouch low to duck under the strike and turn. The room was large enough for a duel, they were getting away from the child´s crib by the window, though dangerously close to his mate who was desperately trying to find his way to the door just by feeling. Suddenly, the attacker caught sight of Milliardo reaching the door finally, and he jerked his hand, a dagger slipping into his palm, glittering dangerously in the moonlight.

"Milliardo!" Treize cried out and swung his sword at the intruder as the man snapped around, the blade leaving his hand and flying towards the blond man.

-----

Milliardo tried to scramble to his feet, the bed covers twisted around him. From the other side of the room he could hear Treize fighting with the intruder. His hands were twitching with the need to help his mate, though he was reasonable enough to know that he would just hinder him. Managing to get to his knees, he reached out and around to get the feeling of where he was. After falling off the bed, he was disoriented. Finally finding the night table, he pulled himself to his feet.

Zechs was crying in his crib, the noises of a sword fight had obviously woken him up. Although Mil wanted to gather him in his arms and calm the fearful cries, he used his hands to find the door. But the moment he touched the door knob, Treize called out his name in fright. Instinctively, Milliardo dropped and rolled to the side. There was a dull thud and the quiet sound of metallic vibration. He didn´t need to see to figure out there was a knife embedded in the door where he had been standing just a moment ago.

Grinding his teeth in determination, Milliardo got to his feet and reached for the door again. The fight moved dangerously close to him. He closed his hand around the door knob and turned it, but in that moment he could feel the air moving, could hear Treize´s cry again. He dropped, the attacker´s blade passing just above his head. Crouching on the floor, Milliardo instinctively straightened his right leg and spun around, catching the intruder by the ankles and bringing him out of balance enough to give his mate the chance to finish the man.

The swords clashed together, one of the blades flying through the room and hitting the wall by the bed. There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and the intruder collided with the door by Milliardo´s side with a grunt and slid to the ground. And then there was Treize, helping Mil off the ground and away from the attacker.

"Are you okay?" Mil asked, running his hands blindly up and down Treize´s naked arms.

"Yes, and you?" Treize inquired. When Milliardo nodded, he pushed him behind himself and pointed his sword at the attacker. "Who sent you?" he thundered, his voice full of menace.

Milliardo stood by the side of his lover, waiting for the man to answer. Suddenly, Treize cursed loudly and moved towards the attacker, who started to choke and thrash on the ground. A moment later everything was silent.

"Treize?" Mil asked uncertainly, furrowing his brows.

The Count sighed deeply and got to his feet. "He is dead."

"Dead?"

"He swallowed some poison. Must have had it in his mouth. This man was a professional."

"So, you think that someone sent an assassin to kill us?" Milliardo asked. He didn´t like the only possible conclusion.

"Yes." Treize cursed again. "And now we won´t find out who it was!"

-----

When Duo woke up, he was lying on his side, face resting on Heero´s bare chest. As the wooziness of his mind cleared and he realized where he was and with whom, a content, happy smile spread across his face. He lifted his hand and laid it on Heero´s stomach, then started to caress the hard plains lovingly. If he hadn´t thought it childish, he would have giggled with happiness.

Last night was... mind blowing. There were no other words to describe it. Although inexperienced, Heero was the gentlest, the most attentive lover anyone could wish for. The smile on his face widened and he snuggled closer, laying one leg over his mate´s thighs. He felt so loved and cared for and safe...

He lifted his head carefully, to peer at his lover's face and blinked in surprise as he caught Heero watching him with an expression of glowing happiness on his face.

"Hey, lover," Duo whispered, propping his head on his hand.

"Hey," Heero answered, one hand playing with Duo´s hair. At one point during the night, his braided hair came undone and now it covered them like a second blanket. Heero was obviously fascinated by the thick mane.

Duo bent his head to kiss the hot skin on Heero´s chest, his eyes never leaving the beloved face. "How are you feeling?"

Heero smiled one of his rare, open smiles. "It was... wow," he said, unable to find the right words.

The lifebearer chuckled.

But then the Enforcer grew serious and maybe even a little worried. "And you...? I mean, I was... I..."

Duo lifted his free hand and laid one finger on his mate´s lips. "Shh... It was the best night ever," he assured Heero with a hushed voice. "And no, it´s not the... whatever they put in the goblets speaking for me." He grinned. "But Treize and Mil will pay for not telling us this teeny weeny little detail."

Heero smiled with relief, then opened his mouth unexpectedly and let Duo´s fingers slip in. It surprised the long-haired young man, but as his lover started to suck on his digits gently, Duo´s cheeks flushed and his eyes grew slightly glazed.

"Heero... it´s morning and... don´t you think that the priest will want his temple... back...?" he sighed, feeling the flames of desire in his stomach grow hotter by the second.

Now it was time for Heero to grin and bite gently on Duo´s fingers. Duo moaned and closed his eyes, his body still very sensitive to his lover´s touch. But before they could do more, there was a commontion in the main space of the temple and loud, quick footsteps headed in the direction of the bonding room. A second later, the curtain in the entryway was pulled aside and when the lovers turned towards it, they found Trowa standing in the doorway, an agitated look on his face.

Heero and Duo immediately sat up on the thick platform in the middle of the room. "What´s wrong?" asked the Enforcer in a serious voice.

"Treize and Milliardo were attacked last night."

------

"I should have been here," Rufus muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. He was obviously very unhappy about the fact that he didn´t manage to protect his General again.

Rufus, Trowa and Heero were standing by the couch in the sitting room, watching as the chief magistrate´s men - the city guards - laid the assassin on the stretcher and carried him out of the Count´s room. The captain of the guards headed towards the three of them, carrying a cloth pouch in his right hand.

"That´s all that we found on him, sir," he handed it over to Rufus. "The weapons are laid on the table in the General´s room."

Rufus nodded and took it. "Where are you taking the man, Captain?"

"To the city morgue, sir. The healers will take a look at him. Maybe they will find something that could help us further." The captain shook his head. "The man didn´t have many things on him and nothing that could help us identify him. He was a true professional."

Rufus nodded again, but seeing the captain hesitate for a moment, he raised his eyebrows, urging the man to continue.

The captain furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully. "Although... as you will see, we found a ring in his clothes... he had it sewn into the hem of his shirt. If one of my men didn´t step on it, we would have never found it. Maybe it´ll help you further."

Rufus frowned too, nodded and dismissed the captain.

"The Captain is right," Treize said as he stepped to his friends. "He really was a professional. Had he faced someone with lesser experience in sword fighting, he would have won." He wasn´t flaunting, but stating facts.

Rufus lowered his eyes. "Sir, I want to apologize..."

The Count lifted his eyebrows. "For what if I may ask? You weren´t even here," he reminded the captain of his personal guard.

"And that´s exactly the point. I wasn´t here," Rufus agreed, his voice bitter. "If I was..."

"But you weren´t. I ordered you to stay with Duo and Heero to keep them safe. From my own experience, I know that during the night of bonding one can get easily... distracted," he finished, smiling and winking at the blushing Heero. But then he turned serious again. "I´m more worried about how they found us. I mean, it was sheer bad luck that we got caught in the storm and ended up here. So it would mean that it must be someone from this town who wanted us killed... But I doubt it. We didn´t meet anybody and weren´t here long enough to make enemies."

Trowa pondered the problem for a moment. "Well, if we assume that someone planned your murder in the first place, he could have left his men in various towns along the coast."

Treize frowned. "So, you mean that from now on I need to watch out in every place we cast anchor?" His voice was full of anger.

The healer cocked his head to the side, then shook his head. "I don´t think so. I mean - the one who hired the man must have been in Peacemillion together with the King since he knew that you would follow the court to the City. And thus he knew you would take the Peacemillion II and that you would hurry to catch up with the Emperor. From this place he only needed to consider the speed of the ship and the location of the ports along the coast to figure out where the ship would need to cast anchor."

"That means I know the man who did it. He must be a member of the Emperor´s court, probably from his inner circle..." The expression on the Count´s face grew dark and his voice was dripping with ice. "A traitor... I swear I will kill him with my bare hands!" The three men shuddered at the dark menace in Treize's voice.

For a moment silence settled on the group, but then Rufus spoke, lifing the pouch in his hand. "The Captain´s men found these things on the assassin."

"Show me," Treize ordered and together they stepped at a table.

Rufus pulled the strings of the pouch open and shook the contents on the table. Only three things fell out on the white tablecloth: a picklock, a very thin wire with small handles at its ends and a simple gold ring. Heero immediately reached for the silver wire, unlooping it.

"That´s a garotte," he said, frowning. "A rather efficient weapon when you have to kill one person quietly. The city guard probably didn´t recognize it as a weapon. You don´t see such things every day."

Rufus and Treize nodded in agreement. The lockpick was of no interest to them since it was easy to find such things in every smithy in the Empire. But the ring...

Treize took it in his hand and looked at it closely. It was a really simple gold band, adorned only with small symbols that looked like runes from the old time. They would need to find somebody who could translate the inscription for them. Maybe this way they would be able to find out to whom it belonged.

Rufus looked at the ring and frowned. "Hm... maybe a payment for the job?"

The Count shook his head. "No, that would be too little. Maybe a sign? To show somebody upon return to the City?" He looked at his companions. Rufus was nodding slowly and Heero looked troubled but it was the expression on Trowa´s face that caught his attention. The healer´s eyes were wide open and fixed on the gold band. He was pale, as if he had seen a ghost.

-----

"You look remarkably composed for someone whom an assassin tried to kill last night," Duo remarked, feeding the baby with a bottle, and looked at Milliardo who was sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling a high leather shoe on. Shinigami was lying on the floor by to door, pretending to be asleep but taking everything in nonetheless.

Mil shrugged. "It wasn´t the first time someone wanted to kill me." His voice sounded casual. "I am - was - a soldier after all."

Duo lifted his eyebrows. "But there is a world of difference between a battle and an assassination attempt, don´t you think?"

"There is only one thing that troubles me," Mil said, frowning. "That I wasn´t able to help Treize. With my eyes..." He sighed and shook his head.

"Wasn´t able? I heard that it was you who knocked the guy on his butt. Give yourself some credit." When Milliardo just shrugged, Duo continued. "And what about your eyes? Are there any better?"

The blond man hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly. "I can see shapes now, not only light and darkness."

Duo grinned, delighted by this good news. "That´s fantastic! What did Treize say about it? I bet he was out of himself, right?"

Milliardo sighed. "I haven´t told him yet," he admitted quietly.

The braided young man frowned. "Why not?"

Mil shrugged once again. "I don´t know... I´m probably just superstitious but... I would like to wait til I see more clearly so that I could give him the really good news, you know? I fear that if I tell him now, I will realize that it was just a dream and I´m still blind, you know?" he whispered.

Duo smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know. For me, it was the same with my bonding. I mean, so many things happened already..."

Milliardo smiled, the frown disappearing from his brows. "And how was your bonding night?" There was mischief in his voice.

The braided young man snickered. "Oh, you will pay for not telling me about the aphrodisiac, you know. I felt like I was set free. I wasn´t thinking clearly and the only thing I had on my mind was..." He blushed. "Well, you know..."

Milliardo´s smile grew into grin. "Oh, yeah?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "Tell me all about it!"

------

"Will you tell me what´s wrong, Trowa?" Treize asked, his voice low.

After Heero had gone to gather his mate and Rufus had disappeared to prepare the coach that would take them back to the ship, the Count and the healer remained alone in the sitting room. Trowa was still standing by the table, holding the gold band in his hand now, staring at it almost unblinking. Treize moved to the door leading outside the rooms and into the corridor and closed them tightly, certain that whatever Trowa would tell him was not intended to be heard by strangers' ears. The Count leaned on the door and crossed his arms over his chest.

Trowa turned the ring once, twice in his hand, the winter sunlight reflecting on the etched runes. He frowned, then a grim expression settled on his face. Obviously he made a decision of some sort, because he turned partially to Treize, still staring at the gold band though.

"This ring belongs to Dekim Barton," he said in a quiet voice.

Treize blinked, his eyes widening slightly. "How do you know?"

The healer just shook his head and continued. "The runes say ´With you for life, in death forever´. Dekim´s brother gave it to his mate... Dekim never knew what the words meant, such a pathethic old fool... To him, it was just another ring he inherited after his brother and his mate died..."

Narrowing his eyes, the Count pondered what the healer just said. Dekim Barton... Would the old fool really dare to hire an assassin to kill him? Of course he would... he was dumb enough not to consider all the consequences. How the Emperor could allow this man to blind him enough to invite him into the inner circle of advisors was still a mystery to Treize.

Trowa lifted his head and mistaking Treize's intense look for suspicion, he hurriedly continued. "I don´t know why he would want to kill you and Mil, but it´s him. I swear, this ring was in his property the last time I-" He cut himself off abruptly, clenching his lips together and dropping his eyes back to the jewelry.

"There is a reason for such a daring move from him," Treize said. "It´s the same reason why we are hurrying so fast to catch up with the Emperor´s fleet." The Count cocked his head to the side and regarded Trowa as if checking if he could trust him. Coming to the conclusion that obviously he could, Treize continued. "This is a state secret, Trowa, you may not discuss anything of it with anybody else, do you understand?"

Trowa looked up again, blinking in surprise, but also nodding in understanding.

"The rebels in the south, the desert clans, are ready to sign a treaty. They want to stop the civil war that has been decimating their warriors for years now. But their leader, Irien Raberba, insists that he will negotiate only with me. For some reason, he thinks I´m a honorable man." A small ironic smirk appeared on Treize´s lips, but disappeared immediately again. "I met him a year ago. He saved Mil´s life back then and we reached an understanding... and now he refuses to talk to anybody but me."

"So, if you die, there will be no treaty and the war will continue," Trowa concluded.

The Count nodded. "Yes. And that´s exactly what Dekim Barton wants," he explained, not able to hide the disgust he felt toward the old snob. "After he inherited all of his brother´s money, he used the war to magnify his fortune - he became the biggest weapons dealer in the whole land. The last thing he needs is peace."

Trowa nodded slowly. It made sense. No Treize meant no peace negotations, which again meant more business and more money for the old man. Men doing business with war would not shy away from murdering two people, no matter how important.

"So, what will you do?" Trowa asked quietly.

Shrugging, Treize shook his head. "What can I do? I will continue my journey south and be more careful. Even though we have the ring, it´s not enough to prove him guilty - unless you would be ready to give your testimony in court." He lifted his eyebrows.

Trowa gripped the ring tightly. "I wish... I wish I could, but I can assure you that my testimony would be more of harm than of help."

There was so much bitterness in the healer´s voice, that Treize lifted his eyebrows. Before he could ask more though, there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" Treize called out.

"Sir, the coach is ready," Rufus said through the door. "The captain says we can set out to sea as soon as everybody is on board."

"We will be right there," Treize assured him, not moving away from the door, nor taking his eyes from Trowa.

The intense look in the Count´s eyes was starting to make Trowa uncomfortable.

A moment of silence settled between the two men. In the end, it was Treize who spoke first. "You know, there is this interesting thing I heard some years ago. Dekim Barton should have had two nephews, twins, the sons of his brother. It should have been them who inherited the whole fortune, not him. But somehow, they were disinherited. The ´social unsuitability´ should have been the reason." Treize paused, watching carefully for Trowa´s reaction. "The boys disappeared mysteriously and the truth behind their ´unfitness´ has never been revealed. Do you know something about it?" Treize asked directly when Trowa didn´t react at all to his speech.

Trowa looked the Count directly in the eyes. His face was expressionless, a stone hard look in his eyes. "Why should I?" His voice was flat.

Treize regarded him silently for a moment. "I don´t know... but if I remember it right, the boys´ names were Triton and... Trowa, if my memory doesn´t mistake me."

The healer´s only reaction was the tightening of his grip on the ring.

"Are you THE Trowa Barton, Dekim Barton´s nephew?" Treize pushed further, relentlessly searching answers to his questions.

For a long moment, Trowa was silent, looking at the Count without blinking. Then his posture relaxed, just like his tightly clenched fist. "I think I should go and fetch your mate and our newly bonded ones. The ship is waiting." He opened his hand and dropped the ring on the white tablecloth.

When Trowa turned around and headed for the Count´s bedroom, Treize stared long after him, an intrigued expression on his face.

TBC

Author´s Notes:

I have no intention to turn it into a political drama – even though it might look so. The whole assassination plot was needed to:

reveal a part of Trowa´s past – he really needed some sort of background :) introduce Quatre´s brother, Irien Raberba introduce Trowa´s brother, Triton explain, why they are in such a hurry to catch up with the Emperor :) 

And I´m truly sorry that I still didn´t manage to write the lemon! Not enough time :(

And for **jibril**: I wrote a story where I let myself be inspired by the Japanese movie Gohatto. It´s not a samurai love per se but as close as I could get without knowing anything of the Japanese culture. The story is called „Desperate Obsession" and you can find it on my site :)


	13. Chapter 12

I would like to thank everybody who stayed faithful to this fic and reviewed it. I´m really grateful for your wonderful support! huggles

**Due South - part 12  
**  
by KatiKat

"Slash! Parry! Turn and parry! Turn and kick out! Too late!" Heero shouted as he swept Duo´s legs from underneath him. The long-haired lifebearer hit the deck with a dull thump, the air leaving his lungs with a loud "woosh" and the silver knives falling from his numb fingers.

For a couple of long moments Duo lay there, looking up at the light blue sky. Yesterday, his frustration turned to annoyance and today it was taking a nose-dive into anger. It had been five days since they sailed out of the harbor and since then Heero kept pushing and pushing, forcing him to practice his meager fighting skills. But instead of Heero taking it slow with him, Duo spent most of the time on his back, staring up at the sky above. And he had just had enough!

Realizing that Duo was not getting up, Heero stepped closer to him, letting his guard down in concern. Using this opportunity, Duo straightened his legs, hooked his feet behind Heero´s ankles and pulled sharply. With a loud yell of surprise, the Enforcer flapped his arms like wings but lost his balance anyway and landed hard on his butt. Duo then scrambled to his feet and pounced.

----

Treize and Trowa exploded in laughter as Heero dropped to the ground, a shocked expression on his face. Snickering and with an amused look, they watched as Duo landed on top of his mate and proceeded to kiss him sensless. The Sire released the grip on his knives involuntarily and closed his arms around the light lifebearer, closing his eyes and moaning as Duo explored his mouth thoroughly.

"Well, that´s a tactic to be used against the enemy. Shame on me that I never thought about it," Treize called down from the upper deck where he and the healer were leaning against the railing and watching the soldiers below them practice their sword skills.

"Hey, you two!" Rufus shouted, approaching the pair that was one step short from having sex right then and there. Noticing that all the other soldiers stopped their exercises and were watching the two newly bonded ones with amusement and not a little bit of envy, the tall captain of the Count´s guard turned around and snapped: "Eager to scrub the deck or what?" Threatened with the worst and most humiliating punishment a soldier could receive at sea, the men threw themselves into practice again.

Eyeing with dismay the two young men still locked in a passionate kiss, Rufus threw his arms up in frustration and stepped closer to where Treize and Trowa were standing above him. "What´s wrong with Duo these days?" he asked with despair. "He has been acting like a horny teenager ever since we boarded the ship! Their sexual escapades are ruining my mens' concentration!"

It was the truth. Since the ship left the harbor of El-One, it seemed like Duo couldn't get enough of the bonded sex and had been seducing Heero into sexual adventures on every occasion possible. And slowly his state of constant arousal was affecting the crew of the ship. Even the ship´s captain complained about his men finding the couple in compromising situations on more occasions than they were comfortable with.

Trowa smiled and propped himself on his elbows against the railing, looking down at the obviously frustrated man. "The explanation is very simple." Then he lowered his voice. "Duo´s time of the month is coming closer."

"Huh?" asked the bearded man and stepped closer. "What did you say? I can´t hear you."

Treize hid his smirk behind his hand and leaned with his hip against the railing, his eyes jumping from the captain of his personal guard to the two young lovers that were now trying to tear the clothes from each other´s bodies.

"Duo´s time of the month," Trowa repeated loudly this time, but when Rufus still stared at him with a blank expression on his face, he said aloud: "His monthly bleeding!"

Rufus blinked, then the meaning of the healer´s words dawned on him, and he blushed a deep color of red.

"Oh," he managed to answer, then shifted from one leg to another and threw a sideways glance at Heero and Duo. "And he is... was he always this... horny? During his... time... you know?"

This time Trowa couldn´t help it but grinned openly, amused by the big man´s embarassment. Sires usually didn´t enjoy talking about the private matters of lifebearers. "Well, from what Heero told me, the last time he was so grumpy that it was a pain to be around him."

"Well, this isn´t any better," Rufus mumbled, then sighed deeply and stepped closer to the pair that was now kneeling on the wooden deck, untying the laces on each other´s tunics. He laid one hand on Duo´s shoulder, the other on Heero´s and shook them. "Hey, you two! Find yourself a bed!" he barked at them. then stepped back as Duo threw him a heated glare and actually growled.

Heero blinked as if waking up from an afternoon nap and looked around, confused. Then his eyes rested on Duo and another wave of molten lava entered his eyes. "Bed. Now," he stuttered, jumping to his feet and lifting Duo with him. He then proceeded to drag the dazed lifebearer after him until they disappeared below deck.

When the door closed after them, Rufus sighed in relief and returned to the practicing.

----

"What´s wrong with Heero?" Treize asked, watching the newly bonded pair disappear through the door leading below. "I would have never thought he was so... passionate."

Trowa smiled, turned around and leaned against the railing. He crossed his arms over his chest. "I think it´s Duo´s state that´s affecting him so much. You see, the closer the lifebearers come to their monthly period, the more fertile they are. That causes them to release a strong fragrance that´s affecting their lovers. Something similar occurs when animals are in heat."

"That explains it." Treize snickered.

The healer nodded, a similar smirk on his face. But then he cleared his throat. "But you were saying...?"

"Oh, yes," the Count answered, leaning against the railing next to Trowa. "Chancellor Winner has thirty children - the last I heard."

Trowa raised his eyebrows. "That´s a lot. He must be a very virile man. But I´m feeling sorry for his mate."

Treize grinned. "Actually, he has or I should probably say had four mates. At once. Although he lives in the Empire and claims to be an Ozzie, in some ways he follows the traditions of his ancestors from the Great Desert. Polygamy is a common thing among the desert clans. Twenty-nine of these children are Sires, the youngest one - I think his name is Quatre - is a Bearer. Unfortunately, Chancellor Winner is not as good a Sire as he is a politician. He uses his children as tokens in his political games. He bonded them to the important houses of the Empire, creating a net of allies even the Emperor has to admire."

Trowa frowned. "But how did his son become the leader of rebels in the desert then? Did Chancellor Winner bond him to one of the clans?"

The Count sighed. "Yes. Irien has always despised his Sire´s ways, and so he welcomed it when the Chancellor sent him to the desert. He managed to unite the clans, but instead of following his Sire´s orders and succumbing to the Empire, he started a rebellion to liberate the desert people. They had a big fall-out with the Chancellor. The rumor says that he even kidnapped his youngest brother Quatre once and escaped with him into the desert. But it´s just a rumor..."

The healer turned toward the Count. "And? Does he have the chance to succeed?"

Treize smirked. "Well, he did force the Emperor and me to run back to the City and obey his demands." His voice was full of irony and sarcasm.

"But you seem to like him. The desert prince, I mean."

Treize laughed. "Well, at first we stood on different sides. We fought against each other for months and neither of us seemed to be winning. But then he saved Mil´s life and everything was different." The Count´s voice softened. "He managed to open my eyes. Without him, I might have never had the chance to make everything right with Mil."

Trowa watched the aristocrat for a moment, sensing the change in the other man´s mood. Treize was looking far into the distance, his eyes unfocused as if he was seeing things long gone. But before the healer could ask if he was alright, a shout sounded from the crow´s nest.

"Ship on the horizon!"

The ship´s captain looked up. "What ship?"

There was a moment of silence, then... "Captain! Pirates! It´s a pirate ship!" cried the sailor in the crow´s nest, his voice strained.

A hush ran through the mass of people on the deck. The ship´s captain ran up the short stairs onto the afterdeck and pulled out the looking glass. Treize and Trowa stepped closer to him. The day was clear and sunny so it was no problem to see at a great distance.

"Captain?" Treize addressed the man as the captain´s posture stiffened and his face grew pale.

"It´s the Revenge," he whispered.

Treize snatched the looking glass from the other man´s hands and pointed it in the direction of the fast approaching ship. Black hull, black sails... There was no mistake. It really was the Revenge.

Trowa frowned. "Treize? What´s going on?" he asked, confused. From what he heard from the sailors, it was nothing unusual to meet pirates at sea these days. He didn´t understand what was happening.

The Count lowered the looking glass, his eyes still fixed on the horizon where the black point was growing larger at an amazing speed. "The Revenge is the fastest ship ever built." Finally, he managed to tear his eyes away from the frightening image and turned to the healer. "Not even Peacemillion can escape it, at least not in its current state."

Trowa could feel coldness creep into his limbs. "Are you saying that..."

Treize nodded. "We will have to fight."

TBC


	14. Chapter 13

**Due South - part 13**

by KatiKat

"But, Heero..." Duo protested as his mate pushed him into Treize and Mil´s cabin. They still looked rather disheveled, as Trowa had abruptly entered their room and found them in a more than intimate position.

Milliardo, who had been until now pacing the cabin nervously, turned to them. "What´s going on?" he asked, stepping closer to them.

Heero spared him a look before turning back to his distressed lover. "Pirates," he explained the problem at hand with one sharp word. Then he released Duo´s shoulders and shoved the silver knives Trowa brought into his hands. "Here, take these. Just in case. And don´t leave this cabin until I or someone else you know comes for you, understood?"

Duo frowned. "But, Heero..."

The former Enforcer sighed then took Duo´s face in his hands. "Listen to me very carefully. You are not weak and you are no coward," he assured his mate but seeing Duo´s doubtful look, he continued: "That´s not why I´m leaving you here. In the last couple of days you learned a lot, but you are not good enough to face a horde of pirates. Be reasonable, love. I don´t want to see you killed. If you were out there, I would be too worried about you to take care of myself. The danger you would face would distract me too much." Nothing like a little emotional blackmail, Heero thought.

Duo sighed and lowered his eyes, his shoulders slumping in misery.

"Thank you," Heero said softly and kissed his mate on the tip of his nose. The he released Duo and took a step back, looking down at Shinigami who was standing next to Duo, watching them curiously. "And you stay. Protect them." He turned around to head for the door when Mil´s voice stopped him.

"Heero..." The blond man´s tone was hesitant.

Heero forced a smile on his worried face. "I will do what I can to protect Treize," he promised. "If he could, he would have..."

Milliardo waved his hand. "I know that he has no time to comfort his mate right now. His place is on deck now, with his men. It´s just..."

"He won´t die," Heero assured him. "He is too arrogant to give the pirates the satisfaction of killing the First General." Not believing that he actually managed to crack a joke for the blond man´s peace of mind, the Enforcer gifted Duo with a last glance, hastily stepped out the door and closed it firmly.

For a moment the Enforcer just stood in the narrow corridor with his forehead laid against the unyielding wood of the cabin´s door. Hearing the bar being shoved in place, he pulled himself together and headed up on deck.

-

"They are going to ram us!" one of the sailors yelled in fear as the black shape of The Revenge changed its course slightly with the intention to push them off course too. "Their captain must be crazy!"

They were headed for a group of islands, intent on hiding in the safe shallow waters of the coral reef where the black ship with a deeper draft wouldn´t be able to reach them. But the captain of the pirate ship obviously guessed what they were trying to accomplish.

The ships were now mere yards apart. It was obvious that if the Peacemillion wouldn´t change it´s course, the ships really would crash together. The ship´s captain pushed the man at the wheel aside, taking the rudder in his own hands. He tore the helm sharply to the right, the wheel spinning wildly, the Peacemillion taking a sharp turn off course. Thanks to the fast response of the captain, The Revenge didn´t ram them directly, but instead it hit them with its side. Both ships groaned and shook, bobbing on the waves as they scraped against each other.

The sailors on the Peacemillion regained their balance quickly but still didn´t manage to stop the pirates from hooking the ships together tightly. Before the King´s men could gather their wits, the black-clad pirates jumped with loud yells of triumph and unsheathed weapons on board.

The fight promised to be a violent one.

-

Rufus stabbed one of the pirates in the gut and hit another in the jaw with a balled fist, sending him flying over the railing and into the sea. Then he quickly risked a glance around. Treize was engaged in a sword fight on his right, while Heero´s knives were flashing in the sunlight on his left. Somewhere above him Trowa was fighting with another two black-clad men on the stern. From what Rufus could hear, he was holding his own pretty well for a healer.

The pirates were still streaming onto the deck of the Peacemillion and it was obvious that they had an advantage in numbers. The Emperor´s men had better training and the personal guard of the Count of Khushrenada belonged to the best fighters in the Empire, but that still wouldn´t help them much when it was five to one and they were in the middle of the sea, hooked to the fastest ship in all the oceans.

Another group of pirates tried to slip around him and enter below, but Rufus promised Treize he would guard the door as best as he could. His sword at the ready, he threw himself on them with the intention of stopping them but cried out in surprise when he felt a burning pain in the back of his thigh. Snapping around he blinked in surprise, seeing the sneaky bastard that attacked him from behind.

There, by the railing, a young boy of fifteen or sixteen years stood. He was of middle height and lean stature, holding the sword with expert grace. There was a determined look on his handsome face.

"Not fighting fair, huh, boy?" Rufus snapped at him, raising his sword.

The boy sneered. "As my Bearer says: ´Everything is fair when fighting against your enemy.´" With that the boy threw himself at Rufus.

The big captain frowned as the young attacker forced him to retreat a couple of steps, the hard blows raining down on him in a hard stream. Something in the boy´s fighting skills tickled his memory but he wasn´t sure what.

Rufus took another step back, leaving himself purposely open to lure the boy to attack. And as he did, the captain raised his fist and hit him directly in the jaw. The boy cried out in pain, flying backwards. He hit the deck with a loud thump that left him breathless, his sword flying out of his hand. Rufus quickly stepped toward him, caught him by the front of his black shirt and raised him off the floor. Then he pushed him against the wall next to the steps leading up onto the stern and lifted his feet from the ground. The boy blinked at him dazedly for a second, then started to kick his legs, trying to get free but with no avail.

But as the boy was struggling fiercely, his face drawn in anger, his black shirt ripped at his neck and a shining silver necklace with beautiful elaborate pendant in the shape of a leaf slipped out. Rufus lowered his eyes to the object that was shining brightly in the afternoon sun.

At the first glimpse of the pendant he gasped, his face growing pale. Heedless of the fierce fighting that surrounded them, he betrayed his own training and dropped the sword. He then raised the now free but shaking hand to the pendant and took it in the fingers that felt cold and numb.

"Let it go!" the boy screamed, trashing wildly and trying to push the taller man´s hands away, but Rufus simply pushed him against the wooden wall roughly, banging the boy´s head and dazing him again.

"Where did you get this from?" he rasped, fingers caressing the gentle pattern of the leaf.

The boy blinked a couple of times, then sneered. "Not your business!" he spat out.

Rufus´ face reddened in rage. He released the boy´s shirt, letting him touch the ground with his feet, then clamped his hand around the other´s neck tightly, cutting his air supply. "You will tell me where you got it from," he hissed hatefully, "or I swear I will break your neck!"

-

Although Duo tried to put on a brave facade for Heero, he was scared to death. His heart was thumping in his throat and his palms were sweaty. He was desperately gripping the silver knives Heero gave him, trying to calm down his ragged breathing. He could hear the shouts from above, the fighting. Never before had he been so close to a real fight. He feared for his mate and their friends and wished it was all over already.

When Mil put a hand on his shoulder, Duo jumped. "Milliardo!"

The blond man smiled. "Don´t worry. I´m scared too," he admitted and for the first time Duo noticed the paleness of Mil´s skin. "I don´t like wars or fighting, even though I´m good with a sword." There was no pride or arrogance in his voice. He was simply stating the facts. No wonder, from what Duo heard the blond man was the only one who managed to beat the Count in a sword fight.

Suddenly Duo frowned, remembering. "Your eyes... Can you see well enough to fight?" he asked, concerned.

"Yes." Milliardo unsheathed his sword and swung it a couple of times to get a better feel of it. "Actually, I wanted to tell Treize tonight, to celebrate it with him. He already knows that my eyes are better, I couldn´t keep it from him - he is too observant for that - but I wanted to surprise him with the news that I´m as good as new again. Well, obviously, we will have to postpone the celebration."

Somewhere on the ship a door crashed open, then the sound of many feet running down the ladder from the deck reached their ears. Shinigami jumped to his feet, a rumble rising from his chest.

Mil raised his sword. "They got in," he said softly, throwing a look over his shoulder to where Zechs lay bundled up in a nest of blankets on the bunk, relatively safe and out of harms way. For now.

Duo didn´t need to ask what he meant. He gripped his knives tightly and when the first blow hit the door of their cabin and the wood shook and groaned under the pressure, he was ready. Or so he thought...

-

Rufus squeezed the lad´s throat with one hand, in the other he held the pendant reverently. The moment his eyes fell on the object, he recognized it and painful memories, buried deep under the surface returned.

He remembered the day he bought it at the jewelry shop at the market... he remembered Nariem´s face when he asked the beautiful Southerner to bond with him... and he remembered how it shone on his mate´s neck while they made love in the temple of Nataku...

This was Nariem´s bonding necklace... and even if he had to squeeze the life out of the youngster, he would get the boy to tell him where Nariem was.

"Tell me!" Rufus growled, smashing the boy against the wooden wall again, choking him.

The lad´s face turned red as he desperately tried to pull air into his starving lungs. When Rufus finally eased the pressure a little, the boy gasped: "My... my Bearer gave it to me," he stammered, tearing at his captor´s muscled arms.

Rufus looked shocked for a moment. "Your... Bearer?" he whispered. Could it be that this boy...? "Who? Who is your Bearer? Tell me his name!"

But before the lad could answer, the sound of a horn, sharp and loud, echoed from the pirate ship. And again. And for the third time.

Suddenly, something heavy hit Rufus in the head from behind. His head snapped backwards and a small cry rang from his lips. A sharp pain blossomed in his head and as his knees gave out, the silver chain that held the pendant he was gripping so tightly snapped. The tall soldier tumbled to the ground, releasing the boy, but still holding the silver piece in his fist.

The dark-haired boy coughed, his knees buckling as he landed on his feet again. From the corner of his eye Rufus noticed a tanned muscled arm that sneaked around the lad´s shoulders, lifting him up and pulling him towards the black ship.

"Come on!" shouted the other pirate, as Rufus caught a glimpse of sun bleached blond hair.

"But Bearer´s necklace!" protested the young man, fighting his rescuer.

But the other man didn´t let him go. "Forget the necklace, Darius! The King´s fleet! They must´ve been hiding among the islands! If they catch us here, we are dead!" With that the pirate pushed aside one of Treize´s soldiers, then threw the fighting boy over his shoulder and disappeared in the mass of fighting bodies.

Rufus groaned and tried to scramble to his feet, but the world swam in front of his eyes. Darius... his Sire´s name... Could this boy... be his own son? Then everything went black.

-

The ships groaned and buckled as the pirates cut the Peacemillion loose from The Revenge, some of the men losing their footing on the wet wood. The pirates scrambled onto their ship, the last ones jumping over a gap between the ships that was growing larger by the second as The Revenge caught wind in its sails.

It was obvious what they were running from. From behind the islands a groups of mighty ships appeared, all of them carrying the Emperor´s flag on the mast. The fleet must have been lying at anchor in the protected bays and when they noticed the two ships fighting, they came to the Peacemillion´s rescue.

"Stop, you fools!" shouted the captain of the Peacemillion when some of the sailors started to climb on the railing, showing every intent to jump on the deck of the quickly departing ship. "What do you think will happen to your sore hides when you get there and The Revenge escapes! By Shinigami, be reasonable!"

The sailors and soldiers stopped, growling in helpless anger, but knowing that the captain was right.

Reassuring themselves that the pirates were really gone and that the Emperor´s fleet was closing fast on the Peacemillion, Treize and Heero both turned and ran for the door leading under the deck. Their only concern now lay with their mates.

Treize was the first one to arrive at the broken door. His sword in hand, he stepped into the cabin and surveyed the dead bodies lying on the floor. Then he raised his eyes and met those of his lover´s. Milliardo stood armed by the bunk, protecting their son. He was pale and breathing hard, droplets of sweat running down his face. Realizing it was Treize standing in the doorway, he relaxed, his sword arm sinking to his side.

"You can see..." Treize said softly, amazed, as he stepped closer, sheathing his sword. Then he engulfed Milliardo in a tight hug, almost crushing him in his arms.

The thumping of feet in the narrow corridor announced another man. A second later Heero burst into the room, his wild eyes taking in the damaged cabin, searching for his mate. His breath caught in his throat as he noticed the braided young man standing by the window. The lifebearer was ghostly pale, his hands that were still gripping the silver knives tightly were now covered in blood, the red fluid dripping from the pointed blades to the pools on the floor. Duo was trembling visibly, breathing ragged. His eyes were wide open, a hollow, shell-shocked look in them.

"Duo?" Heero called his mate´s name quietly, not wanting to startle him, as he started to inch closer, patting the heavily breathing Shinigami on the head as he passed by. He could feel the tension radiating from the tightly coiled body of his lover.

The long-haired young man lifted his head slowly, his eyes locking with Heero´s. But no hint of recognition appeared in them. It was as if Duo wasn´t really there.

"Duo, love?" the Enforcer called again as he laid his blade on the table he was passing, then reached for his mate. Slowly, carefully, he took Duo´s hands in his and released his lover´s grip on the sharp blades, then laid them next to his blood smeared sword.

While the other two occupants of the room watched and Shinigami whined softly, unhappily, Duo lowered his eyes to where their hands linked together. The moment Heero removed the weapons, the tension left Duo´s body and his legs started to fold under him. Heero caught him quickly in his arms and sank to the floor with him.

"I killed them, Heero," Duo whispered brokenly. "I did as you showed me and killed them. Oh gods, Heero..."

The Enforcer raised his hand and laid it on Duo´s hair, then pressed his mate´s head to his own shoulder, engulfing him in a hug. "Shh, it´s okay. Not your fault. Shh... Not your fault... Shh..."

And while Heero whispered kind, calming words to his mate, Duo started to shake hard, the shock setting in and the cabin was filled with harsh, broken cries...

TBC


	15. Chapter 14

Due South – chapter 14 

by KatiKat

_I apologize for the long delay but I finally finished it! Go me! And I know that I promised to write the side-story about Duo's and Heero's mating but the muses just won't cooperate. Sorry, folks! . I hope, you will like it anyway! huggles_

"What's the status, Captain?" Treize asked as the ship's captain stepped into their cabin through the makeshift curtain they hung up to replace the destroyed door. The small room was already cleaned up, the bodies disposed of.

The tall man ran a hand over his tired face. "We've lost eight men, General. Seventeen are injured. The ship's healer and Mr. Barton are taking care of them right now." He propped his hands on his sides, too tired to mind the protocol while talking to his superior. "There was a fire on the bow, but fortunately, there was no significant damage done to the ship."

Treize nodded, donning a clean jacket over his white shirt. "So are we okay enough to join the fleet and head for the City?"

The captain nodded. "Yes, sir. The captain of the Velvet Dove offered to replace our men with some of his crew so there shouldn't be any delay - as long as we don't hit another storm or something similar."

Buttoning his sleeves, Treize sighed. "Hopefully not. This journey has already been adventurous enough for my family." He threw a glance in the direction of the crib where Milliardo was laying their son in his crib to sleep.

The captain agreed. "Will you stay on the Peacemillion?"

Treize looked at the other man, raising his eyebrows. "Why shouldn't I?"

"The Emperor sent a boat for you. He demands your presence on his flag ship," the captain explained.

For a second, Treize froze. Mil's head shot up and he gasped almost inaudibly. They didn´t expect to meet the King so soon.

Treize forced himself to relax. "We will definitely be staying here, Captain. Tell the boatmen that I'm on my way," he added, dismissing the captain.

The tall man bowed slightly and left the cabin, the curtain closing behind him.

Milliardo straightened from where he was bent over the small crib, then closed the distance between himself and his mate. "Treize..." he whispered, lying his hand on the other man´s shoulder.

Treize took a deep breath. "Well, that's sooner than I expected," he admitted. He was realistic - the audience wouldn't be easy. He would have to be extremely careful about what he would say. One slip and all of them could end up in the executioner's hands.

Milliardo stepped around his lover to face him. "What will you tell him?" he asked softly. He didn't have to specify who he was talking about. They both knew that the Emperor would demand an explanation how Milliardo Peacecraft, one of the most skillful officers in the Emperor's army, turned out to be not only a lifebearer, but mated with the First General too. King Noventa was not a bad man, but he was a traditionalist to the core and viewed the Bearers as lesser beings that were there to only bear children and provide pleasure. This, their Bond... he would regard it as a break of trust, a betrayal, a slap in the face... They would have to act very, very carefully.

Treize sighed and took Mil's hands in his. "What we agreed upon. Our little story should provide explanation enough. Everything depends on how angry the Emperor is with us. I'm sure that there will be some repercussions though. He can't let it slide. He has to save face."

Mil lowered his head. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault... If you lose your title, the lands of your ancestors or..."

"Mil."

"... your rank, I will never forgive myself."

Treize took Mil´s face in his hands and forced his mate to look at him. "Milliardo." He kept caressing the blond man´s cheeks with his thumbs gently. "It doesn't matter. The titles, lands or my rank. None of it matters. You do though, and our child." When Mil kept looking at him with a miserable look in his blue eyes, Treize leaned closer and kissed his lips softly. "You two are the most important to me. And everything else can go to hell. Understood?"

Milliardo sighed, then touched his forehead to Treize's. "Understood," he agreed quietly.

Treize smiled. "Alright." He kissed his mate´s forehead, then headed for the door. "And tonight, we will celebrate your sight returning."

Mil turned around. "You promise?" he called after the other man.

The Count turned around in the doorway and smiled. "I promise." Then he was gone.

-----

"Oh gods, my head," Rufus moaned as consciousness finally returned to him. He tried to open his eyes, but shut them tightly immediately when the bright light stabbed deep into his skull painfully.

"Are you back with us?" an amused voice laced with worry asked him from close proximity. A moment later, a shadow fell over Rufus' face and he dared to open one eye slowly.

"Trowa?" Rufus groaned. "What happened?"

The healer knelt down next to his friend, then leaned over him to gently probe the back of his head. "Sorry," he mumbled when he touched a sore spot and Rufus hissed through his teeth. "Obviously, you got bashed over your thick head. But fortunately, there is no blood. Any problems with your vision?"

Rufus shook his head, then groaned as he realized that it was a bad idea. "No. But I feel dizzy as hell."

Trowa sat down on his heels and turned to check the bandage on the other man's thigh. "No wonder. You've been unconscious for a rather long time. I was starting to worry."

Rufus raised his hand to shield his eyes. Suddenly he froze as something dangled from his fingers and glittered in the afternoon sun. The pendant. He tried to sit up, but Trowa pressed him down to the wooden deck again. "The pirates... where are they?" he asked urgently.

"Stay where you are!" Trowa ordered in his best 'no nonsense' voice. "The pirates are long gone. Unless you want to swim after them, you stay put!"

Rufus closed his eyes, put the pendant in his hand and squeezed it tightly. He had been so close. So close to finding a clue that could lead him to his mate. And now it was gone again. He sighed.

"Trowa? What's wrong with Rufus?"

At the sound of his General's voice, Rufus tried to scramble to his feet, but Trowa pushed him down again. For a healer, the young man was rather strong.

"It's nothing serious," Trowa assured the Count from where he was, kneeling besides the injured man. "He should take it easy for a couple of days, but he will be okay."

Rufus turned his head to see the General nod. Treize didn´t look injured, though there was a noticeable strain in his shoulders. Rufus frowned. Something was obviously wrong.

The Count turned to Trowa again. "You should go and take a look at Duo. When I left, Heero was with him but he didn´t look good. There was an... incident," Treize added after a small hesitation.

Trowa frowned, then nodded and got up. "You," he turned to Rufus, "stay put. I advised the men to use a piece of sail-cloth and build a tent for the injured that do not fit in the infirmary. The last thing we need is for you to fall down the ladder or take a swim in the sea!" With that, he quickly disappeared in the door leading below.

Heedless of the healer's warning, Rufus sat up and quickly swallowed hard as his stomach rebelled. He closed his eyes for a moment to collect himself. When he opened them again, he looked at Treize. "General... is something wrong?" he asked quietly.

Treize hesitated, then crouched down. "The Emperor expressed his wish to see me," he said softly, mindful of curious ears close by.

Rufus' eyes widened slightly. He had spent a lot of time with Treize and his mate and even though they didn't tell him anything, he knew that they were hiding something. It was a well known fact that Milliardo, a Bearer, joined the military - a thing unheard of before. It was also obvious that there would be repercussions for what the blond man had done. And from the tension that vibrated through the Count's frame, Rufus realized that the other man was more than just a little worried.

"General..." he whispered, but Treize interrupted him.

"Rufus, should... something happen... Promise me that you'll get them to safety," the General said in a low voice, laced with steel.

Rufus swallowed hard and looked around quickly. "General, you don't think that the Emperor would..." he couldn't finish.

Treize shrugged. "I don't know. But what I need to know is that my mate and my son are safe."

The soldier didn't hesitate. "You have my word, my lord," he promised, his headache forgotten for the moment.

Treize relaxed just a fraction, then offered his hand to the captain of his personal guard. "Thank you, my friend."

Honored by the fact that the great First General considered him a friend, Rufus squeezed his forearm tightly. "I swear on my life."

-----

Heero sat down on the side of the bed and laid a cold compress on his mate's burning forehead. Then he took Duo's hand in his own and pressed a gentle kiss on the back of it. He was worried. No, more than worried. He was frantic with worry.

After Duo collapsed in his arms, he brought him into their cabin, away from the smell of death and blood splattered floor. The long-haired young man seemed almost unresponsive and let Heero undress him and wash away all remnants of the disastrous fight. Heero then put Duo into their bed and tucked him in, intent on keeping him away from the horrendous remains of the battle.

It took him only a couple of minutes to realize that something was wrong though. Duo's breath grew haggard, his pale cheeks flushed and his skin grew hot and dry. This wasn't normal. That's why when Treize stepped in to see if Duo was okay, he asked the Count to send Trowa to them as soon as possible.

Duo moaned silently and turned onto his side where he curled up in a small ball. The compress that had already grown warm slid from his forehead. Heero put it into the basin, then caressed his mate's hair gently. Even though it was warm in the cabin, the lifebearer shivered and Heero pulled the blanket that covered him higher. Duo opened his eyes to slits. They were feverish and glazed over.

"Hey," Heero whispered and dropped to his knees by the bed.

"I killed them, Heero," Duo rasped brokenly. "I could feel them die. It was as if a part of me died with them." Tears gathered in his eyes.

Heero caressed the tousled brown hair of his mate gently and kissed his forehead. "It wasn't your fault. If you didn't kill them, they would have killed you. You know that. That's how it is in a battle. You kill or get killed." Heero wanted to console his mate, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't even begin to imagine what it must be like for a lifebearer to take a life. He was used to it and sometimes it horrified him that while killing, he didn't feel a thing anymore. Sometimes he wondered if he was still human.

Duo blinked, the tears soaking into his pillow. "It hurt so much... it still hurts," he whispered, gripping his mate's hand with his left one tightly and pressing the other to his chest. "In here..."

Heero swallowed painfully. He didn't know what to say, how to ease Duo's suffering and it pained him so much.

"Heero?"

A quiet voice from the doorway interrupted Heero's musing and the former Enforcer turned around to see Milliardo standing there, a sad expression on his face.

"Mil...?"

"Maybe I should talk to him," he offered.

Heero felt torn apart. On one hand, he really wanted it to be him whom his mate would need so desperately, but on the other hand he realized that the word of a lifebearer who went through the same thing might help Duo more.

He turned around to the young man on the bed, kissed his cheek and caressed his hair. "Milliardo is here. He wants to talk to you. Do you feel up to it, love?" he asked softly, letting Duo decide what he wanted.

Duo's eyes slid past Heero's crouching figure to where the blond lifebearer was standing by the door. "Okay," he whispered, tightening his grip on Heero's hand for a second. Then he let his mate's hand go.

Heero dropped one last kiss to his mate's brow, then got to his feet and headed for where Mil was standing. "Help him," he said quietly. "Please."

Milliardo nodded. "I'll do what I can. Could you watch over Zechs?"

The former Enforcer nodded, threw one last glance over his shoulder and left the cabin.

-----

"I was only fourteen when I killed for the first time," Milliardo said softly. He sat on the bed, holding Duo's burning hand in his. His eyes were lowered, fixed on the bony knuckles he was caressing with his thumb. "It was even before I passed the Ceremony of Coming of Age. My father had been so sure that I was a Sire that he didn't mind me joining his men on the patrol of our borders."

The blond man fell silent for a moment and Duo watched him with feverish eyes.

"It was in winter. The barbarians from the North crossed the border and were attacking our villages, stealing food and burning down everything. It was just a couple of days before my Coming of Age Ceremony. Treize came all the way from the City to stand witness." He smiled a little. "We weren't on good terms back then. Or at least I wasn't. He was getting bonded then and he saw me as only a little brother. But I don't know what would have happened to me, if he hadn't been there."

"The fight was... it was a slaughter..." he continued in a whisper, his face very serious and sad again. "In the heat of the battle I didn't feel it, I didn't feel anything... I should be grateful for that, otherwise I and maybe other men would have ended up dead, cut to pieces by the barbarians' battle axes. No, it wasn't until we returned back to the stronghold that it crashed down around me." He shivered at the memory. "I started to shake so terribly that my teeth chattered, I was hot and cold and my sight was growing dim. My father clapped me on the back and congratulated me on the kill. He said that it was just the shock of my first kill... And maybe it was... partially."

"I tried to escape the celebrations of our victory... But on the way to my room, I suddenly couldn't breathe or move or utter a sound. It was as if my world stopped moving. The whole ride back to the fortress, I could feel Treize's worried eyes on me and at that moment, he was there. He took me in his arms and brought me to my room. He disrobed me and crawled into the bed with me, he hugged me and held me tight since I couldn't rid myself of the chill."

He shook his head. "The pain I felt in my chest was so numbing, so debilitating that I couldn't even cry. When I look back, I sometimes think that if Treize didn´t hold me in his arms that day, I would have shattered to pieces. I didn't know what it was, this deep ache that was shredding me to pieces... and neither did Treize. I think it confused him. He would have expected to hear something like that from a Bearer, but not a Sire. But he stayed and my speech finally returned, he let me talk... about nonsense... about stupid things that fell from my tongue... I just needed to get it out..."

"And then everything was alright?" Duo croaked silently, breaking Mil's monologue for the first time.

Milliardo looked his friend in the eye. "No," he answered truthfully. "I won't lie to you, Duo. Bearers are just not cut out for killing."

"But you've been a soldier," Duo said, furrowing his brows slightly.

"And I pay for it with neverending nightmares," he answered. "Every time Treize is not there to hold them at bay, I feel like they'll swallow me up. You don't get used to taking life. Ever. Every time someone dies by your hand, you feel his death as if it was yours. And every time, you die a bit more in here." He laid his hand on his chest. "It's an awful, terrible feeling and if you are not careful, it can easily drive you insane."

"Then why did you become a soldier?" Duo asked, his mind distracted from his own problems for a minute.

Mil smiled sadly. "Love is a powerful motivation, Duo. I would readily suffer far more to spend one minute in Treize's presence. He is just... everything," he added, not being able to find a better word how to describe the wonderful feeling that filled him to the tips of his toes.

"So, you are saying that lifebearers are weak," the braided man croaked out sourly, his voice full of self-disgust. How could Heero love a weakling like him?

"No, that's not true," Mil protested. "Duo, look at me," he asked, but when the other man wouldn't meet his eyes, he released his hand and took Duo's face in his hands. "Lifebearers are not weak. You are not weak. You can hold your own and protect the ones you love. Would you call Heero a weakling because he is not able to bear children?" When Duo shook his head, Mil continued. "The Sires and the Bearers are different but the cultural and physical gap between us is growing narrower with each generation. I have read books from the ancient times when the Bearers needed to be protected from every harm, they were like flowers that wilted at just a hint of danger or violence. And look at us now. It still pains us to take lives and we are still sensitive towards anyone in distress, but we have evolved. And in time there won't be any difference between the Sires and the Bearers at all. And that's what the traditionalists fear. That is the reason why they are 'showing us our place' as they call it. They fear us because one day we could force them into submission. It won't be in this generation and not even in the next. But the day will come."

Mil smiled crookedly at Duo and released his face. "I apologize for this rant of mine, but since the moment my child and I almost died at the hands of a traditionalist, this turned into a sore spot for me."

Duo answered with a smile of his own. It was small, wavering and barely there, but it was a smile. "You make us sound like supernatural beings."

"And we are supernatural," Milliardo smiled. "Can you imagine the Sires bearing our children? We would die out in two generations."

This time there was a twinkle in the violet eyes that still held a feverish glaze.

There was a soft knock on the door, then Trowa poked his head inside. Taking in the two figures on the bed, he smiled the gentle, soothing smile of a healer and greeting them with a soft 'hey there' and stepped inside.

------

When Milliardo asked him to watch over Zechs, it never occured to Heero to refuse. He knew that Trowa would be rather busy now and Treize left to talk to the Emperor himself. And besides – it couldn't be that hard to take care of a small child for a moment or two, right?

His mind busy with the physical and emotional state of his mate, Heero didn't think twice of what he would or would not do with the baby should it wake up, so the first stirring and cooing took him completely by surprise. Blinking once, twice, he stepped closer to the wooden crib, unsure of what to do. He had no experience with children. Except for finding the lost ones in the woods or fishing them out of a pond they had fallen into, he never came into contact with them. Heero shuffled his feet and peeked over the edge of the crib.

As if sensing that someone was nearby, little Zechs scrunched his face and forced out a loud and long wail, his little hands flailing. Surprised once again, Heero took a step back, as if afraid that his presence was scaring the child. He knew a lot of adults who were terrified of him, why not a small child?

When the boy kept on crying, his little face growing wet and red, Heero looked around helplessly, as if the answer to this predicament would pop up from nowhere if he just looked around hard enough. But alas, no one came to his rescue.

Taking a deep breath and gathering courage, Heero leaned closer again and using the sternest voice he could manage, he said. "Oi, be quiet!"

But as if angered by the harsh voice the adult used, the child's cries grew into harsh sobbing, the little legs kicking wildly in frustration over the man's idiocy in not understanding what the small one wanted.

Heero frowned and not knowing what to do, he reached down with his hand and laid it gently on the child's breast. The crying stopped almost immediately and Zechs started to coo, happy at the prospect of having someone's attention.

Grateful for the sudden silence, Heero tried to lift his hand from the softly breathing ribcage, but the wailing started anew almost immediately. With a deep breath, Heero resigned himself to being glued to the infant for an infinite amount of time.

The low chuckle that echoed from the doorway surprised the slumped figure at the crib. Heero turned around quickly, still a little wired from the bloody fight.

Trowa pulled the curtain aside, stepped in and closed it again. "You know, Heero, you could take Zechs in your arms," he said, amused. "The baby just wants your attention, that's all."

Heero looked genuinely horrified at the prospect of having such a fragile little thing in his arms. He could drop it or squish it by accident or...

As if reading his thoughts, Trowa assured his friend. "Don't worry, Heero. Children are more resilient that one would think." He stepped closer to the crib, leaned over and ran a finger over the fuzz on the top of the baby's head. "I went to see Duo," he said, changing the subject of their conversation suddenly.

Heero's eyes shot up from where they were following Trowa's gentle movements. He didn't ask anything but his eyes said it all.

"He will be okay. At least physicaly. The fever comes partially from the shock and partially from the fact that he got his monthly bleeding. Two rather unpleasant things happened coincidentally at once. He will be rather tired and he should drink plenty of fluids, but give him a couple of days and he will be okay," he assured his friend, eyes still fixed on the child.

"You said physically... what about mentally?" Heero asked, a bit afraid to hear the answer.

Trowa sighed. "As you know, it isn't easy for a Bearer to kill. He has to make peace with himself first, then he can deal with the residual pain of their deaths. I don't know what Mil told Duo, but I think it worked. It looks like Milliardo managed to reach deep inside of your mate and fix something that got broken or at least bent." He chuckled softly. "You know, when I was leaving, Duo asked me if I knew that lifebearers were supernatural beings."

Heero blinked in surprise.

"I don't know what that means, but I noticed the wink he shared with Milliardo."

Heero frowned slightly, making a mental note to ask his lover what that meant. "And what happens now?"

Trowa straightened, propping his hands on his hips. "Duo needs to rest a lot, sleep if possible. I made him drink a sleeping potion, so he should be out cold for now."

"Is he alone?"

The healer nodded. "Yes, I forced Milliardo to take a walk on the deck. His eyes are almost okay now and he hadn't left his cabin for a small eternity. The fresh air should help him clear his head. He seemed rather worried about something," he added almost absentmindly.

"I think we both know what it is," Heero muttered and they shared a dark look. "Well, I think I will go and sit with Duo now," he said. An anxious look appeared in his eyes as he slowly lifted his hand from the sleeping child's chest. When the wailing didn't start this time, he breathed out in relief.

Trowa laughed quietly and when Heero glared at him, he gave his friend a cheeky grin. "Heero, I can't wait to see you with children of your own!"

With a terrified look in his eyes, Heero made a hasty retreat.

-----

The sun was setting slowly. Milliardo was pacing up and down the deck, rubbing his arms even though the evening was warm. It wasn't the stench of death nor the remnants of the battle that were upsetting him. He had seen much worse scenes in his life. No, he was worried about his mate. It had been hours since Treize left to talk to the Emperor and still there was no sign of him. He could feel Rufus watching him with worried eyes, but nothing could distract him from his worried state of mind.

And then there was a boat on the waves, slowly bobbing in their direction, two pairs of rows fighting against the current. Milliardo stepped to the railing, gripping the wooden edge until his knuckles grew white. A relieved gush of air left his lungs as he spotted the figure of his mate sitting among the sailors.

He rushed to the rope ladder that Treize climbed, welcoming him with a squeeze of a hand, flushed cheeks and overly bright eyes. But then he noticed the pale, grim expression of his mate and let himself be ushered to the bow, the sailors scattering from their path under the heavy burden of the General's look.

"What's wrong, love?" Mil asked softly after he made sure they were out of earshot. "Did you talk with the Emperor?"

Treize released his mate's hand and turned toward the ocean, leaning with his hands on the railing. "No," he gritted out, obviously too furious for words. "He let me wait in front of the door to his cabin for two hours, then his secretary stepped out to tell me His Highness had no time for me."

Milliardo swallowed. He knew what that meant. The Emperor was showing the First General that he was not in his favour anymore. That wouldn't be that bad since they prefered to stay away from the Court anyway. But even though the Emperor didn't favour his General, he still needed his help. And that situation was dangerous. It was always dangerous to give your superiors the feeling that they owed you something. Emperors especially didn't owe anything to anybody.

Milliardo waited patiently since he knew that that wasn't all. Something more must have happened that angered Treize so much.

"He put Dekim Barton in charge of me and the peace talks," Treize spat out.

Mil's eyes grew large. "What?"

"Barton must look pretty smart right now. The Emperor didn't voice it that way of course. Dekim Barton should be my 'counsellor' and 'assistant'. That was the message His Highness' secretary should relay to me." For a moment, Treize just looked at the vast ocean, then he slammed his fist against the edge of the wooden railing. "To hell with it! Barton, that treacherous bastard. No way can I step out now and charge him with an assassination attempt. Everybody would write it off to the fact that I'm jealous of his status. Damn it to hell," he added softly.

Milliardo reached out and laid his hand on Treize's taut shoulder. "Well, you wanted to keep Barton close anyway, to figure out what he was up to, you know? Now you have the chance without raising any suspicion," he tried to console his mate, rubbing small circles on the hard muscles of his shoulder.

"But that's not all. The secretary asked me to relay a message to you too," Treize whispered.

Mil froze, the breath catching in his throat. "And... what is it?"

Treize turned his head to him. "You've been ordered to appear in front of the Emperor the day after we reach the City. Alone."

After a couple of seconds, Mil remembered how to breathe, but when he wanted to drop the hand from his mate's shoulder, Treize wouldn't allow it and gripped his hand in his own.

"Well, if worse comes to worse, we could always ask Irien for refuge," Treize said, his voice forcibly light.

Milliardo looked Treize in the eye and saw that his mate was only partially joking. They both knew that if need be, Irien would take them in, no questions asked. They respected each other and trusted each other.

Milliardo swallowed and nodded. "So... what now?"

Treize squeezed his hand gently, then laid his arm around the blond lifebearer's shoulders and kissed him on the cheek. "Now we wait. We will see what the future will bring..."

TBC


	16. Epilogue

**Due South – Epilogue**

by KatiKat

When they arrived in the City, the sun just started to climb over the top of the hills that held the town tightly in their fist. It was a beautiful morning, it was warm and the sky was clear and deep blue. The king's fleet formed a long column with the Emperor's flag ship sailing first into the large bay. Peacemillion parted from the rest of the ships and headed for the smaller dock at the left end of the bay that served for repairs.

The crew and the passengers of the Peacemillion were all standing on the deck watching the town as it grew before their eyes. The white buildings and narrow streets, white palaces and green gardens of the City's nobility... The higher the residences lay, the richer they looked. And on the tops of the hills fortresses stood, tall, proud and dark, guarding the town and bound together by a long row of ramparts.

"It's beautiful," Duo whispered. He was still rather pale and there were deep shadows under his eyes, but the sight of their destination managed to lift his mood finally. He leaned into Heero who laid an arm around his shoulder. "Isn't it?" He turned to his lover.

Heero nodded. "Yes, it is."

"That's our home," Treize pointed with his arm to a large complex of buildings not far away from the Emperor's palace. Never before had the General's new friends actually realized how rich or important Treize was.

"I expected the City to be bigger," Heero admitted as he gazed at the capital of Oz.

"More and more people move to the City every year, but the town can't grow in size anymore. Behind those hills," he pointed at the range of mountains surrounding the City, "the Great Desert lays. There is nothing but sand and hostile ground. The hills keep all the water that comes from the sea, so nothing can get past the mountains."

"So the only way to reach the City is by water?" Duo asked, laying his hands on the railing.

Treize shook his head. "No. Caravans pass through the desert regularly. But going by sea is much more comfortable."

The door leading under the deck opened with a loud creak. The three men turned around. Trowa and Milliardo, who was holding little Zechs, stepped on the deck.

"It was nothing to worry about," Trowa assured the Count. "As I suspected, your son just had a mild case of colic. He will be alright." He caressed the baby's face with the back of his fingers.

Treize approached his mate and smiled at him. "That's good to hear."

Milliardo nodded to him, rocking the sleeping child in his arms. Then he turned to their friends. "Now that we reached the City, have you decided what you'll do next?" he asked, curious.

"We will find an inn to stay for a while before we find a place of our own," Heero said.

Trowa shook his head. "That won't be so easy. The City is overcrowded as it is. There won't be any houses or even rooms free, I'm afraid."

Treize threw the healer a curious glance. "You seem to know a lot about the City. Have you been here before?"

Trowa's face went blank. "I passed through."

Milliardo poked his mate in the ribs gently, and when Treize looked away from Trowa and gazed at his lover, he raised his eyebrows. The Count nodded.

He cleared his throat. "We wanted to make you an offer. All three of you," he added. When the young men gave him their full attention, he continued. "We will need a caregiver for Zechs. To have a healer at home isn't bad either and I think that the place of the weaponsmith is still free too." His eyes moved from Duo to Trowa and ended their journey on Heero. "We are not offering you charity. As you know, we've found ourselves in a rather... uncomfortable position." He glanced at Milliardo who lowered his head. "And we would feel safer if we knew that there are people we can trust in our home."

Duo looked at his mate. "Heero?" he asked.

Heero fixed his eyes on Treize for a moment, then turned to the braided young man by his side. "What do you want, Duo?" he answered with another question. The hopeful look Duo gifted him with told him everything. He knew that Duo and Milliardo grew close after the killings and he would hate to tear his mate away from a place where he felt safe. And it didn't really matter to Heero where they lived as long as they stayed together. He squeezed Duo's shoulder, then looked at the noble pair. "We accept your offer. Thank you." He bowed his head slightly.

Treize turned to the healer. "Trowa?"

Trowa was gazing at the pier where the Emperor and his court were leaving the ship amidst the cheering of the masses. His eyes found the man following the King closely. Even from such a distance he could see his expensive robe glittering in the sun, his cap adorned with feathers... He felt anger boil in his insides, and at the same time, an ice cold chill ran up his spine.

Without tearing his eyes away, he said: "I will stay... for a while at least," he added softly.

Treize followed his gaze to the Emperor and Dekim Barton walking down the pier. When the men disappeared into the crowd, he turned back to the healer, his gaze suspicious. But before he could say something, the ship dropped anchor and the sailors started to shout and mill about, making further conversation impossible.

They finally reached their destination... But what would await them there?

The End


End file.
